BDR Carnage
I just evaded a near death
Maj Monir tells court
Smearing the blood of an unfortunate officer on his face and playing dead, Maj Syed Monir Alam evaded a near death when the BDR jawans were on a killing spree in Darbar Hall of Pilkhana during the 2009 mutiny, the survivor told a court yesterday.
Maj Monir said that after the mutiny broke out, he and Maj Maksumul Hakim entered the washroom at the Hall and hid in a narrow corner under a basin.
But a group of BDR jawans including sepoys Zia and Razibul entered the washroom, spotted a portion of Maj Maksumul's legs, and fired bullets at him.
"At one stage, Maj Maksum collapsed and frequently asked the jawans to take him to hospital, but they again fired and he died", Maj Monir, the 21st witness to the carnage, said in his deposition before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka.
The February 26-27 mutiny and carnage in the headquarters of BDR (now Border Guard Bangladesh) in Pilkhana killed 74 people including 57 senior and mid-ranking army officers.
"I was behind Maksum sir. I took the blood gushing out of his [Maksum] body in my hand and stained my face with it and pretended to be dead", he continued.
Around 20 minutes later another group of armed jawans entered and spotted the Rajshahi sector commander inside a locked toilet and shot him dead though they assured him that they had come to rescue him, Monir said.
Monir said realising that the place was no longer safe, he came out of the washroom through the window. At that point he saw five to six armed jawans including sepoys Sazzad, Rubel Miah, and Shahadat entered the Darbar Hall kitchen. He then hid himself inside a three feet deep drain around Darbar Hall and covered himself with a floor mat.
"I watched helplessly, discharge caused due to washing of already killed officers' blood following through it". After staying there till 12:30am on February 27, 2009, Monir hid inside the false ceiling of Darbar hall where he stayed till a lawmaker rescued him in the afternoon.
"From the hideout I heard a jawan named Sepoy Shahid boasting that he alone had killed 17 officers", the major told the makeshift court at Bakshi Bazar where all detained accused were produced.
After his deposition, defence counsels cross-examined him when he said he had seen several officers inside the kitchen whose bodies were recovered later.
Maj Monir, who came to Pilkhana from Rangamati to participate in the parade, is one of the few lucky officers who get back to their families. He is now serving in Savar cantonment as a major.
After Maj Monir's cross-examination was completed around 4:15pm, the court adjourned the proceedings till 9:30am today. Earlier in the day, defence lawyers completed cross-examination of Maj Kamrul Hasan.
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