Two processions entered Pilkhana during mutiny

Col Shamsul

On the second day of the February 25-26, 2009 BDR mutiny, two processions entered the Pilkhana headquarters and soon marched out with many rebel jawans, a former BDR official gave witness deposition yesterday to a court.
Earlier it was a rumour that processions entered Pilkhana during the mutiny and that rebel jawans fled with them, but it was never been officially admitted. Finally, the rumour came true with the deposition of Col Shamsul Alam Chowdhury.
Col Shamsul Alam, who is the fourth prosecution witness to the carnage case, also said two groups with three armed jawans in each made Maj Shahnewaj and Maj Saleh run with their hands up on February 25.
“After a few moments I heard gunshots,” the witness, who was then a Lt Col and the then commanding officer of 44 Rifles Battalion in Pilkhana, told the Metropolitan Session Judge's court set up at Alia Madrasa playground in the capital.
The bodies of Maj Shahnewaj and Maj Saleh were later recovered.
During his deposition for over two hours, Col Shamsul Alam also narrated how before his very eyes two jawans gunned down Subeder Abul Kashem on the first day of the mutiny on a road near Darbar Hall in Pilkhana. All these took place before 11:30am, he continued.
Col Shamsul Alam watched the brutal acts through the windows of a room on the second floor, residence of Subeder Ismail, of JCO quarters near Darbar Hall. Ismail and four other JCOs (Junior Commanding Officer) kept him hidden there till around 4:00pm on February 26.
“On February 26 around noon, I heard some jawans shouting that BDR men were fleeing,” said Col Shamsul Alam, adding that soon a procession entered Pilkhana through Gate-5 and took a detour after reaching a place between Darbar Hall and Rifles School.
Between 1:30pm and 2:00pm, another procession entered Pilkhana through the same entrance and went out likewise the previous one after reaching Darbar Hall, the witness continued, “Perhaps, many people went out of the premises with the processions.”
According to the witness, though power was disconnected in and around Darbar Hall after Maghrib prayers on February 25, he could see an ambulance and a pickup van, with their head lights off but signal lights blinking, were ferrying between Darbar Hall and 13 Rifle Battalion.
“Sweepers were seen going into Darbar Hall with dustcarts and buckets. Some of them were heading towards 13 Rifles Battalion carrying something heavy on groundsheets,” added Col Shamsul Alam.
He said around 10:00am on the second day of the mutiny, he heard some jawans chanting slogan, “Long live DG Towhid”, when the then deputy assistant director (DAD) of BDR reached the spot in a jeep.
During his deposition, Col Shamsul Alam expressed his earnest gratitude to Islamil, his family and four other JCOs who risked their lives to save his. The four JCOs are nayeb subeders Saiful and Rahim, Subeder Siraj and Havilder Zakir.
Sources said the five JCOs who saved Col Shamsul Alam's life during the carnage are all prosecution witnesses.
After recording the deposition, the makeshift court asked the counsel for prime accused Towhidul Islam, former DAD of BDR, to cross-examine the witness. However, the court was adjourned till October 19 just a question later.
Earlier in the day, the defence had completed cross-examining the third prosecution witness Lt Col Mohammad Abu Tasnim. The court witnessed a pandemonium created with prosecution lawyers rebuking a defence lawyer. The defence lawyer asked the witness not to give explanations when asked for suggestions.
A total of 57 army officers were brutally killed in the mutiny at the BDR, now Border Guard Bangladesh, headquarters in Pilkhana. Seventeen others were also killed and most of their mutilated bodies were retrieved later from mass graves near the playground of 13 Rifles Battalion.
Col Shamsul Alam also gave a vivid description of how the mutiny broke out from Darbar hall and rebel jawans started firing arms and his agonising moments in Pilkhana and finally how he was set free at 4:00pm on February 26, 2009.
Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested a “fake” lawyer in the court while he was handing over Tk 30,000 and a cell phone to detained former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Pintu, who is also an accused in BDR mutiny cases.
The arrestee was identified as Nahidul Islam, general secretary of Lalbagh Police Station unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal. Police found no evidence of the detainee being a lawyer.
Additional deputy commissioner Masudur Rahman said Chawkbazar police arrested Nahid around 12:30 when he was trying to hand over the items identifying himself as a lawyer.
Police seized the money, cellphone set and a black cloak that Nahid used as a lawyer's outfit.