BDR Mutiny: Survivors deem the mass release of BDR soldiers as unjust

Survivors and families of victims from the February 25-26, 2009 rebellion in the former Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) expressed their concerns at a press conference in Dhaka on Wednesday. They argued that it would be unjust to release all BDR soldiers who are imprisoned or on death row, as not all of them were innocent.

While they acknowledged that the release of certain BDR members could be a judicial matter, they emphasized that death row convicts and those in prison should not be freed indiscriminately. Saquib Rahman, the son of the slain Colonel Quadrat Elahi Rahman Shafique, stated, "We are not opposed to the bail of BDR members, but it would be unjust if all BDR members, including those on death row and those imprisoned, were released wholesale."

Saquib also expressed his distress that some members of the Students Against Discrimination group had called for the release of all BDR members. He pointed out that only Subedar Major Nurul Islam had stood against the massacre, which involved four to five thousand BDR soldiers.

He further rejected the narrative that the BDR killings were orchestrated by Sheikh Hasina and India. "India could have plotted it, and Sheikh Hasina might have ordered it, but it was the soldiers who executed the plan," Saquib said.

In response to mounting pressure from victim families and political groups, the interim government set up a seven-member commission on December 24, 2024, to re-investigate the 2009 BDR carnage, which resulted in the deaths of 75 people, including 57 army officers.

On January 23, 178 former BDR members were released from various jails after being granted bail in an explosive case linked to the mutiny.

The release of these soldiers came just five and a half months after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024.

At the press conference, Fabliha Bushra, the daughter of slain Lieutenant Colonel Lutfar Rahman Khan, read a statement detailing the brutality of the BDR soldiers, who killed 57 officers, mutilated their bodies, buried them in a mass grave, and committed widespread looting, arson, and vandalism.

"BDR soldiers also held women and children in the quarter guard room for 36 hours and tortured them," she said. "Around five thousand BDR soldiers looted four thousand firearms from Pilkhana that day."

Bushra affirmed that it was clear beyond doubt that BDR soldiers played a direct role in the killings on February 25 and 26, 2009.

Nehreen Ferdousi, widow of late Colonel Md Mojibul Haque, survivors Lieutenant Colonel Salam and Lieutenant Colonel Riaz, and Subedar Major Nurul Islam's son Ashraful Hannan also shared their accounts of the atrocities committed by the BDR soldiers during the mutiny.