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The barbarity is unimaginable, unforgivable

Nation must stand united behind democracy, the elected govt and punishment of the killers

Mahfuz Anam
As the bodies were being brought out from the sewer one by one, and as a mass grave was being excavated within the BDR head-quarters. the people of Bangladesh, perhaps of the world at large, stood aghast at the extent of the barbarity perpetrated on the officers of our border security forces. As we watched on television the heart rending scenes of distraught families desperately trying to get a last glimpse of the mutilated bodies of their loved ones and others anxiously waiting for some news of those missing, the natural question that came to our mind was,
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for what "crimes" were these officers meted out such inglorious death? For what unprofessional acts were life snuffed out of them at the height of their career? For what possible action of theirs could a section of BDR jawans murder their officers in such an inhuman and un-soldierly manner? The answer escapes reason, words and logic. However, one thing can be said with certainty, if there were some sympathy for the points raised by die rebellious jawans, not an iota of it remained in the public mind after the initial extent of the crime became evident yester-day.
No, these cannot be outbursts of anybody that ever wore any uniform of a disciplined force. These cannot be the soldiers of BDR as we knew them and respected them for their untiring work in guarding our borders. These were the work of premeditated murderers who planned, prepared and then executed what amounts to die biggest loss of life of our well-trained officers corps of our armed forces.
We express our deepest shock and heart felt condolences for the families, relatives and friends of those who gave their lives while serving the cause of our security. We join the nation in mourning for them and praying for the salvation of their souls and hoping that Almighty will grant them eternal peace. We express our solidarity with the families of the bereaved and promise to stand by them as their children and families struggle to move forward in life.
As we absorb the shock and the feel in our hearts of the true extent of the tragedy, we must also be aware that we have a nation to take forward, our armed forces to strengthen, our BDR to rebuild and, most importantly our democracy to strengthen and make functional.
Before we spell out the
tasks before us, we must commend the political leadership for the way it has handled die crisis so far. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina showed tremendous sagacity, farsightedness and patience in handling the crisis. She could have easily taken the harder line and ordered the army to recapture the Pilkhana area. That might have satisfied some who wanted precipitous action against the rebels who clearly needed to be captured. Fearing greater loss of life and wanting to avoid what she termed as "brothers shooting brothers", she opted for a negotiated solution. Her address to the nation, especially directed at the rebels, had tremendous impact in resolving the crisis and hastening the surrender.
It would have been a most satisfactory ending but for the fact that much earlier, in fact within hours of the first act of rebellion (as narrated by Lt. Col. Kurnruzzaman who miraculously survived assas sins' bullets) and before the PM could know, “brothers" had already taken "brothers' lives" and in a most gruesome manner. Around 50 bodies of officers had already been found, some bayoneted either after or before being killed, and their bodies buried in mass graves or put in the sewer to be drained out into theBuriganga.
Given the evidence of mass murders that have come out and are likely to surface later, we categorically state that the genera) amnesty declared by Sheikh Hasina earlier cannot apply to those who indulged in the mayhem. We must institute investigation and find out the culprits and punish them according to our laws. There cannot be any compromise on this account.
Just as we praise the sagacity of the present political leadership, so also we commend the restraint, discipline and institutional dignity exhibited by our armed forces. Let us have no doubt that the provocation has been tremendous and the feeling of the officers of our armed forces and of the troops in general have been hurt very deeply. They have been devastated by the brutality of it all and are naturally in a mood for immediate justice. This is only natural. When we as journalists see one of our own brutally murdered or even assaulted, we ourselves demand immediate action.
1 lowever we want to point out that it is not only that of our armed forces whose feelings have been wounded and who want action against the killers. The whole nation mourns the death of the officers and our people are one in demanding expeditious pur suit, apprehension, prosecu-
tion and punishment of the murderers. At this moment our armed forces enjoy the love and sympathy of the whole nation. This is both because of the brutal crime that has been committed against them as a body and also because of the discipline, respect for order and restraint shown by them. We would like to point out here that the actions of the wayward jawans (who are only part and do not encompass the whole of BDR as testified to by Lt. Col. Kamruzzaman in his TV inter view yesterday) have nearly destroyed the BDR which is itself a great national loss. Anything remotely amounting to a breach of discipline anywhere else will only weaken us further. This cannot be to our national interest.
We conclude with an appeal to all to unite as a nation and strengthen the hands of our newly elected government so that it can take the sternest measure under law against those who killed our valiant officers and brought such a disaster anil shame on our country. We also need to restore the dignity, respect and self-respect of all our armed forces, especially that of the army whose mor.tic has been affected by this brutal killing But above all we need to strengthen our democracy and all institutions that make it functional.