:: Nitish Sengupta

The day freedom fighters turned mutineers

By Nitish Sengupta

Mar 01 : The aborted mutiny in Bangladesh on February 25-26 leaves more questions than answers. How could the demand for higher pay and perks assume the shape of an armed rebellion by uniformed forces holding senior officials captive, killing some of them, including the chief commander, and not hesitating to shoot at Army helicopters and Army units approaching them?

There must have been agents provocateurs goading the mutineers on. Who were they? Were they supporters of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), elements essentially disloyal to the present elected government and wanting to show that while they may be down after the recent elections, they are not out?

Eventually, the mutiny was put down by the Army’s intervention and the mutineers were made to return to barracks. But the Bangladesh government had to pay a heavy price —general amnesty for the mutineers, which does not include the killers, and conceding all demands for pay and perks without any discussion. That the government of Bangladesh conceded these demands without even the formality of a discussion is also a question mark. Yes, there was a clear probability that the murderous gang, which killed the Bangladesh Rifles chief and other senior officers on deputation from the Army, might have gone out to pick other more important targets. That could well have been the object of the agents provocateurs who instigated the mutiny. And that is, perhaps, why the government acted so quickly.

A comparison with the events of August 15, 1975, is unavoidable. Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman, the first Prime Minister of independent Bangladesh and father of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and most of his family members were assassinated in a plot.

We must remember that during the infamous coalition between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, elements which are essentially hostile to the nationalist regime in Bangladesh and follow Pakistan’s game, gained a foothold in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). It was these elements who, a few years ago, kidnapped some BSF officials and men from Indian territory and killed them brutally on Bangladeshi soil. During the infamous coalition regime, north-eastern rebels from India were given a foothold to operate from Bangladesh and the ISI was also given an opportunity to operate against India from Bangladesh, as the investigations in the recent Mumbai blasts have revealed. Obviously, these elements, including Pakistan’s ISI, are not happy to let that opportunity go to the advantage of the present nationalist regime in Bangladesh. It is not just a coincidence that the BDR mutiny took place immediately after the Parliament’s decision to prosecute those who opposed the freedom movement and the assassins of Bangabandhu, and the announcement of the Bangladesh government’s decision to hand over Ulfa commander Anup Chetia to India. Obviously, the pro-Pakistan and pro-Jamaat elements will do everything possible to see that their opportunity to operate from Bangladesh can be maintained. The people of Bangladesh have given an overwhelming mandate against these policies and the Bangladesh government should not let them succeed. The intelligence machinery of Bangladesh also must be doubly focused against this possibility.

The manner in which the mutiny spread to several new locations on the second day, even after Dhaka fell quiet, indicates that the conspirators had planned to create confusion and unrest in the country. However, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a very bold stand and appealed to the mutineers to lay down their arms and come to the negotiating table, and not test the government’s patience. This seems to have persuaded the mutineers to surrender their arms to the Army units surrounding them.

Hopefully, there will be no more such incidents. But the way the 70,000-strong BDR was made to rebel against the democratically-established government is revealing. It is ironical that it was the same Border Defence Force (BDF, then known as East Pakistan Rifles) that started the first armed revolt against the Pakistan regime four decades ago from the same Pilkhana barracks, pledging loyalty to Bangabandhu. And now the same uniformed outfit has been used to create difficulties for the Awami League government engaged in taking the nation back to the direction that Bangabandhu had set.

The authorities should, therefore, be doubly cautious in the days ahead, keeping their antennae up forever in search of possible sources of subversion. Extra precautions should be taken for the safety of the Bangladesh Prime Minister and other leaders of the government.

The enemies of democracy, peace and progress will strike again whenever they can. But they must not be allowed to succeed. Much depends on the leadership of the Bangladesh Army, which played a commendable role in nursing the nation back to parliamentary democracy. They should avoid all temptation to step in.

Nitish Sengupta, an academic and author, is a former Member of Parliament and a former secretary to the Government of India