“I wish I were dead too”: Victims of the BDR mutiny remember the tragic day and make 7-point demands

“I wish I were dead. Instead of 57 officers, there should have been 58,” said Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Syed Quamruzzaman today (17 August) at a press conference before a solemn crowd.

The families of the victims of the BDR massacre in Pilkhana and the victims themselves gathered for a press conference in Mohakhali, Dhaka, where they appealed to the interim government to meet their seven-point demands for justice, transparency and recognition of the martyrs.

At the conference, they described the terrible hours and the impact they had on their lives.

“I suffer every day. I have been suffering for 15 years. The loss of my classmates, friends and colleagues haunts me. Although I am alive, the suffering is not over,” said Quamruzzaman.

Hannan, son of Major Nurul Islam, one of the martyred officers, said: “My father's sin was that he tried to save other soldiers. This caused my family and I to suffer a lot. Even to get government assistance, we had to go to the Supreme Court and fight for it.”

They laid out their demands in a draft: all reports of the investigations to date should be published, an investigative commission should be set up to expose the conspirators, February 25 should be declared “Army Martyrs' Day” and the dead should be given a place of honor. In addition, the national flag should be flown at half-mast throughout the country on that day.

They demanded that the Pilkhana tragedy be included in school textbooks and that army personnel dismissed as a result of the incident be reinstated or adequately compensated.

They also called on the government not to punish innocent BDR members.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Standard, Nehrin Ferdousi, wife of slain Colonel Mujibul Haque, who was commander of BDR's Dhaka sector in 2009, said: “We want transparent justice and recognition from the government.”

Talking about her husband's last moments, she said, “I heard from a witness that they stabbed my husband several times in the stomach with a bayonet, shot him and later threw him from the third floor of a building. His body was later found in a sewer in Kamrangirchar and I received it from the morgue of the military hospital.”

Dr. Rowshon, the widow of Lieutenant Colonel Lutfer Rahman Khan, also shared her experiences.

“I received my husband's body after three days. They shot him so many times,” she said.

“When I called him during the shooting, all I heard was, 'Lie down, lie down.' That wasn't my husband's voice. Then he hung up.

“When I called him again a few minutes later to check on him, he just said, 'Please stay home. Don't you dare go outside.' That was the last time I heard his voice,” she said.

The Pilkhana tragedy occurred on February 25, 2009.

It was led by a section of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary force whose main task was to guard the borders of Bangladesh.

Due to a series of grievances, rebellious BDR soldiers occupied the BDR headquarters in the capital's Pilkhana district.

They killed 57 army officers, including then BDR Director General Shakil Ahmed, and 17 civilians.

In 2013, the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court sentenced 152 people to death and 161 to life imprisonment; another 256 people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to ten years for their involvement in the mutiny.

The trial was criticized for a lack of fairness. UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said the trial “failed to meet the most basic standards of fair trial.”