BDR mutineers did not let minister see Darbar Hall
Says former IGP
Nur Mohammad, ex-police chief and a key witness to the 2009 BDR Pilkhana carnage, yesterday said despite repeated requests, mutineers did not show the home minister the Darbar hall where most of the army officers were killed hours into the mutiny's outbreak.
"But we could not put pressure on rebels as they were carrying heavy weapons and the situation was not normal as well," said Nur Mohammad who entered Pilkhana around 1:00am with Home Minister Shahara Khatun and State Minister for Law Quamrul on February 26 after the rebels agreed to surrender following a negotiation.
The former IGP, whose son-in-law Capt Mazhar was slain during the massacre, was giving his deposition before the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka, set up temporarily at Bakshi Bazaar in the capital to hold the trial of the carnage case.
Now Bangladesh Ambassador to Morocco, Nur Mohammad said that after entering Pilkhana, they asked the BDR jawans to take them to the officers and their family members, but they were making delay.
"Five to seven jawans started addressing a gathering of jawans before us, saying they would not surrender until their demands are met," he said, adding that then the home minister and the state minister for law also addressed and requested them to surrender. But the BDR jawans did not heed and were dilly-dallying.
"At one stage, the rebel jawans took us to cote (arsenals) and surrendered only three to four firearms," he told journalists after coming out of the court. He said the surrender was nothing but an eyewash.
As soon as they entered Pilkhana, he said, a group of BDR members led them to the gallery of the Parade Ground where they met several hundred BDR members. It seemed that they had no leader, he added..
At one stage, the BDR soldiers took them to different quarters where they found the residents scared, he said, adding that they brought as many people out of Pilkhana as they could.
Nur Mohammad also said that to inquire about his daughter, they went to officers' mess from where the state minister for law brought his daughter with some others. Around 4:00am, the team came out of Pilkhana, he said.
About his son-in-law, Nur Mohammad said he last talked to him [Capt Mazhar], an ADC to slain BDR chief Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, around 9:30am on February 25. He informed him of the heavy gunfire inside Pilkhana.
He also said they searched for Mazhar inside Pilkhana, but could not find him. Later, Mazhar's body was found near a sewer at Nawabganj in the capital along with the bodies of other officials.
Fifty seven top and mid-ranking army officers along with 15 other people were killed during the February 25-26 mutiny and massacre in Pilkhana.
After his deposition, defense counsels cross-examined the former IGP.
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