Various commentaries in Bangladesh press indicate that the mutiny was instigated by pro-Jamaat-BNP supporters.  A sitting BNP Member of Parliament, Salauddin Qhadir Choudhury, was named by the media as the one who paid huge amounts to get the pro-Jamaat BDR soldiers to launch the massacre.

The issue that provided the spark for the mutiny, however, concerned the unequal pay and perks of the BDR forces compared to the armed forces.  The confrontation that lasted for almost two days claimed the lives of several soldiers including that of their senior army officers.  The BDR chief, Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and several others were taken hostage by the BDR personnel.

The BDR personnel do have several grievances.  Direct recruitment to the BDR is not at the officer level; senior posts are held by army officers on deputation.  There are discrepancies in pay and perks.  BDR men also do not get lucrative UN Peace Keeping assignments even as they guard the 4000 km long porous border with India. And they resent being controlled by the army.

These complaints have been there from the inception of BDR and even during its earlier phase as the East Pakistan Riles. Any how, in every country, the army enjoys a superior position compared to paramilitary force.

Bangladesh watchers are therefore perplexed by the timing of the revolt so soon after the new Awami League government came to office. Two months is a short time for any new government to get down to the nitty-gritty of governance, much less address the ‘brought forward’ problems. BDR men are involved in aiding organised smugglers in Bangladesh, especially those involved in cattle smuggling from India which is highly lucrative.  Smugglers from the Indian side are also involved.

Pakistan sponsored terrorist operations into India from Bangladesh had peaked in the last flew years especially during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government from 2001-2006.  There is, however, no hard evidence that the BDR was involved in this. What is well known and demonstrated is that the BDR personnel have brainwashed and shaped into an anti-India force over these fears.

Howsoever unpalatable Sheik Hasina’s Feb 25 speech may have been to the hardcore BDR personnel, and how frustrated they may have been with their service conditions, the scale of revolt does not appear to be spontaneous.  The spat with the service officers appear to have been deliberate to create a situation to embarrass the government if not destabilize it.

Almost immediately upon forming the government Prime Minister Hasina Wajed began some serious house cleaning.  She started with the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), a replication of Pakistan’s ISI in Bangladesh.  Maj. Gen Ruan, a former DGFI Chief, was sidelined to the Bangladesh Institute of Strategic Studies (BISS).  Other officers were moved around.  The DGFI closely collaborated in terms of providing ISI with assistance and abetment in their Indian operations.

The BNP blames the army chief Gen Moeen U. Ahmed for breaking the party during the two-year caretaker government rule.  Moeen and some of his colleagues pre-empted a BNP inspired army coup on Jan 7, 2007.  The army backed Emergency Rule declared by the caretaker government led by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, an economist, put paid to the BNP-JEI ambitions.  The arrogant sons of former BNP Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Tarique and Arafat, were also politically ruined.

The JEI was also exposed and demolished.  A BNP-JEI inspired coup attempt in July last year, the details of which still remain under cover, destroyed much of their influence in the army.

In the new parliament, the BNP members have been baying for the blood of Gen. Moeen.  They want him to be tried for treason. It is a futile demand, but it helps get the remnant of the party and its grass-root workers energised with hope.  The JEI, with two members in Parliament, is weak but its committed members and supporters stand firm.

The JEI had claimed that about 30% of the lower rank in the army and BDR were their people.  Those in the army appear to have been neutralised by some means or the other including the lure of UN services – a once in a lifetime rags to richer assignment.  

The Bangladesh media has spoken little or nothing about any conspiracy behind the BDR mutiny although some of them have some information.  The army chief wants a blanket cover in the whole episode.

Sheikh Hasina took both humane and firm approach.  She announced general amnesty for the mutineers if they surrendered and warned of strict action otherwise.  But the BDR personnel began to surrender only after Gen Moeen stepped in and the army surrounded the hqrs with tanks and small artillery.