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Bangladesh border force is back on firm footing after reconstruction: BGB
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)
DHAKA, Oct 18, 2012 (BSS) - Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is now on a firm footing overcoming the stains of mutiny 44 months ago with a massive reconstruction and exposure to justice over 6,000 soldiers, the chief of the paramilitary troops said today.
"The frontier guards are back on firm footing regaining their moral which they lost during the (February 25-26, 2009) mutiny" killing 74 people including 58 army officers, BGB director general Major General Anwar Hossain told BSS as a paramilitary court is set to deliver verdict of the trial of the last of the 57 mutinying units on October 20.
He said the BGB, which was previously called Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), engagements in different critical anti-crime missions across the country other than guarding the borders reflect the fact that it has turned around after the mutiny setback.
Hossain's comments came as BGB officials said a paramilitary court was set to deliver verdict of the last of the 57 mutinying units completing the trial of the last group of the rebel soldiers belonging to the Pilkhana-based Sadar Rifles unit under the BDR Act on October 20.
A parallel trial process is, however, underway to expose to justice the core carnage suspects, in a session judges court under Penal Code that prescribes the highest death penalty for murders.
Eleven special paramilitary courts tried the mutineers under the relatively lenient BDR Act that prescribed the highest seven years of imprisonment for ordinary command breach.
The provision of lenient punishment under the BDR Act required the trial of the core suspects of the 2009 carnage under a session's judge's court for murder charges.
Court officials said they expected the trial of the 847 detained accused to be completed in the next two months as most of the witnesses testified before the court while they were cross examined by the defence lawyers.
"It is clearly understood that the government is very active to complete the trial as soon as possible and so far we have not faced any obstacle from the defence side to disrupt the trial process . . . we expect it to be completed by the yearend," chief prosecution lawyer of the case Advocate Anisul Haque earlier told BSS.
But the BGB chief said at least 20 of the suspects were still on the run to evade justice as they are being tried in absentia while investigators suspected they could be hiding in neighbouring India.
"As a matter of fact we are not confirmed about their (fugitives) current whereabouts but we suspect they can be hiding in India and we conveyed our suspicion to BSF (Border Security Force) and requested them to track them down and return them if found in their territory," Hosssain said.
Meanwhile a BGB spokesman said the last group of suspects, being tried under the BDR Act, was set to appear before a makeshift paramilitary court at the border force's Pilkhana headquarters on October 20.
"This last group numbering 733 belonged to the BDR's Sadar Battalion, which played a key role in staging the mutiny at Pilkhana . . . in terms of strength they are highest in number as far as the units tried for mutiny," the spokesman said.
The total number of accused in 11 paramilitary courts is 6,011, who belonged to 57 units across the country, 11 being stationed at Pilkhana where all the 74 people were killed.
Accomplishing the trial of 56 units the paramilitary courts handed down jail terms up to seven years to 5203 rebel soldiers and freed 105 finding them "not guilty" of the mutiny charges.
The rebel soldiers staged the rebellion at Pilkhana at the heart of the capital city on February 25, 2009 but the mutiny quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country but the casualties took place only at the Pilkhana.
Bangladesh last year renamed the mutiny-stained force as BGB under a massive reconstruction campaign that also witnessed the changes in the border force's law, uniform, flag and monogram as part of desperate efforts to free the force from the rebellion stigma.
The new law or BGB Act suggested death penalty for mutiny in the force compared to seven years prescribed in the previous BDR Act, as authorities apparently could not foresaw possibilities of such rebellion in the paramilitary force when the law was enacted.
A government committee report said "a certain quarter" staged the mutiny using a sense of deprivation of the ordinary BDR soldiers but only a few BDR men knew about killing plot.
The rebel soldiers staged the rebellion at Pilkhana at the heart of the capital city on February 25, 2009 but the mutiny quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country but the casualties took place only at the Pilkhana.
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)
DHAKA, Oct 18, 2012 (BSS) - Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is now on a firm footing overcoming the stains of mutiny 44 months ago with a massive reconstruction and exposure to justice over 6,000 soldiers, the chief of the paramilitary troops said today.
"The frontier guards are back on firm footing regaining their moral which they lost during the (February 25-26, 2009) mutiny" killing 74 people including 58 army officers, BGB director general Major General Anwar Hossain told BSS as a paramilitary court is set to deliver verdict of the trial of the last of the 57 mutinying units on October 20.
He said the BGB, which was previously called Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), engagements in different critical anti-crime missions across the country other than guarding the borders reflect the fact that it has turned around after the mutiny setback.
Hossain's comments came as BGB officials said a paramilitary court was set to deliver verdict of the last of the 57 mutinying units completing the trial of the last group of the rebel soldiers belonging to the Pilkhana-based Sadar Rifles unit under the BDR Act on October 20.
A parallel trial process is, however, underway to expose to justice the core carnage suspects, in a session judges court under Penal Code that prescribes the highest death penalty for murders.
Eleven special paramilitary courts tried the mutineers under the relatively lenient BDR Act that prescribed the highest seven years of imprisonment for ordinary command breach.
The provision of lenient punishment under the BDR Act required the trial of the core suspects of the 2009 carnage under a session's judge's court for murder charges.
Court officials said they expected the trial of the 847 detained accused to be completed in the next two months as most of the witnesses testified before the court while they were cross examined by the defence lawyers.
"It is clearly understood that the government is very active to complete the trial as soon as possible and so far we have not faced any obstacle from the defence side to disrupt the trial process . . . we expect it to be completed by the yearend," chief prosecution lawyer of the case Advocate Anisul Haque earlier told BSS.
But the BGB chief said at least 20 of the suspects were still on the run to evade justice as they are being tried in absentia while investigators suspected they could be hiding in neighbouring India.
"As a matter of fact we are not confirmed about their (fugitives) current whereabouts but we suspect they can be hiding in India and we conveyed our suspicion to BSF (Border Security Force) and requested them to track them down and return them if found in their territory," Hosssain said.
Meanwhile a BGB spokesman said the last group of suspects, being tried under the BDR Act, was set to appear before a makeshift paramilitary court at the border force's Pilkhana headquarters on October 20.
"This last group numbering 733 belonged to the BDR's Sadar Battalion, which played a key role in staging the mutiny at Pilkhana . . . in terms of strength they are highest in number as far as the units tried for mutiny," the spokesman said.
The total number of accused in 11 paramilitary courts is 6,011, who belonged to 57 units across the country, 11 being stationed at Pilkhana where all the 74 people were killed.
Accomplishing the trial of 56 units the paramilitary courts handed down jail terms up to seven years to 5203 rebel soldiers and freed 105 finding them "not guilty" of the mutiny charges.
The rebel soldiers staged the rebellion at Pilkhana at the heart of the capital city on February 25, 2009 but the mutiny quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country but the casualties took place only at the Pilkhana.
Bangladesh last year renamed the mutiny-stained force as BGB under a massive reconstruction campaign that also witnessed the changes in the border force's law, uniform, flag and monogram as part of desperate efforts to free the force from the rebellion stigma.
The new law or BGB Act suggested death penalty for mutiny in the force compared to seven years prescribed in the previous BDR Act, as authorities apparently could not foresaw possibilities of such rebellion in the paramilitary force when the law was enacted.
A government committee report said "a certain quarter" staged the mutiny using a sense of deprivation of the ordinary BDR soldiers but only a few BDR men knew about killing plot.
The rebel soldiers staged the rebellion at Pilkhana at the heart of the capital city on February 25, 2009 but the mutiny quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country but the casualties took place only at the Pilkhana.
