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Amnesty follows daylong efforts

Staff Correspondent
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday announced a general amnesty to the mutineers of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in an attempt to end the crisis that developed after the fierce battle at BDR headquarters.
The announcement came after two hours of negotiations between a 14-member BDR delegation and the prime minister-led government side at the Prime Minister's Residence Jamuna yesterday afternoon. The prime minister urged BDR men to surrender their arms and return to their barracks. She also assured them of considering their demands.
"The prime minister announced general amnesty after the BDR personnel asked for it," State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak told reporters after the meeting.
Nanak said the prime minister listened to the emotion-choked words of the BDR personnel and taped- taw disaptawwesta.
prime minister hoped that they would allow the injured out for treatment and give safe passage to women and children who were trapped inside the BDR headquarters.
At the short press briefing, BDR Deputy Assistant Director Shawkat said they had a long discussion with the prime minister, who assured them of giving general amnesty and
meeting their demands. "We also assured the prime minister that all BDR men would surrender their weapons and return to barracks."
Nanak said they went to the BDR headquarters after the prime minister asked them to do so, so that the already terrify-ingsituationcouldnot escalate.
Earlier, Nanak and Wlup of Jatiya Sangsad Mirza Azam went to Pilkhana several hours after the firing began. Using megaphones, they urged BDR men to show restraint and stop shooting.
C.7Scfoxe ehtering- tire BDR a n+e r s • * h o’ »t w o
men as a sign of peace. After a brief discussion, Nanak and Azam emerged with the delegation of BDR men.
They then went to the residence of the prime minister, where Hasina and her senior cabinet and party colleagues were having an emergency meeting to find ways to end the crisis.
Chiefs of three forces-the
army, the navy and the airforce--were also present at the meeting-
After the gun battle erupted in the morning, troops from Dhaka Cantonment were sent to Pilkhana. Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel were also deployed outside the BDR headquarters only to face heavy gunfire from the BDR headquarters.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Ministry' of Defence in a press release said the government around noon urged the rebel soldiers: to swendeMheir arm$ and nRjtn i
It said the prime minister, who is in charge of the defence ministry, is ready to listen to the demands of the mutineers.
The press release also carried a note of wanting that if the rebels take the law into their own hands and do not refrain from destructive acts even after this announcement, “stern actions" would be taken against them.