BDR massacre: The army’s biggest grievance was ‘why weren’t we allowed to fight’

Special Correspondent

The anger that had built up among army officers after the brutal killing of 74 people, including 57 army officers, in the BDR mutiny in Peelkhana, was most intensely expressed in a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Senakunj on March 1.

The same question has repeatedly come up for army officers: “Why weren’t we allowed to fight when our brothers were being slaughtered before our eyes? Why weren’t we allowed to take revenge by entering the pillbox with tanks?”

Leaked audio of the secret meeting in the army barracks and sources present that day reveal that army officials directly blamed the government’s ‘negotiation and forgiveness’ policy for further bloodshed.

Audio of that meeting

At the meeting, an officer cried in anger and said, “We were ready. We could have cleaned the pit in 15 minutes if we had just brought out the tanks. But you negotiated, declared an amnesty. The bodies of our officers were left in the dump, and we could not do anything. This is the biggest insult of our lives.”

Another official directly asked the Prime Minister, “Why didn’t Home Minister Sahara Khatun go to the quarter guard? If she had gone, many more people could have been saved. And when the rebels surrendered their weapons, why weren’t we allowed in? We wanted to take revenge.”

In the audio recording, several officers can be heard shouting together, “Our hands were tied… We wanted to fight… What is the price of the blood of our officers?”

Army Chief General Moin U Ahmed himself admitted in the meeting that the allegations made by the BDR jawans were ‘false and incited’, but the army was kept inactive on government orders.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina repeatedly said at the meeting, “We wanted to avoid further bloodshed. If we had not negotiated, thousands more lives would have been lost.”

But this explanation did not reduce the anger of the army officers. On the contrary, many believe that this ‘soft policy’ of the government has left the army humiliated and helpless.

This anger was evident at the state funeral for the victims the next day, March 2. Even among the hundreds of thousands of people at the cantonment, many army officers were heard whispering among themselves: “We are being humiliated today because we were unable to fight.”

It is clear from that meeting in the barracks and the audio that was leaked later that the army’s deepest blow in the BDR killings was not only the loss of its colleagues, but also the fact that they were not allowed to take revenge. This resentment remains a dark chapter in the military-political relationship in Bangladesh to this day.

The anger that had built up among army officers after the brutal killing of 74 people, including 57 army officers, in the BDR mutiny in Peelkhana, was most intensely expressed in a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Senakunj on March 1.

The same question has repeatedly come up for army officers: “Why weren’t we allowed to fight when our brothers were being slaughtered before our eyes? Why weren’t we allowed to take revenge by entering the pillbox with tanks?”

Leaked audio of the secret meeting in the army barracks and sources present that day reveal that army officials directly blamed the government’s ‘negotiation and forgiveness’ policy for further bloodshed.

Audio of that meeting

At the meeting, an officer cried in anger and said, “We were ready. We could have cleaned the pit in 15 minutes if we had just brought out the tanks. But you negotiated, declared an amnesty. The bodies of our officers were left in the dump, and we could not do anything. This is the biggest insult of our lives.”

Another official directly asked the Prime Minister, “Why didn’t Home Minister Sahara Khatun go to the quarter guard? If she had gone, many more people could have been saved. And when the rebels surrendered their weapons, why weren’t we allowed in? We wanted to take revenge.”

In the audio recording, several officers can be heard shouting together, “Our hands were tied… We wanted to fight… What is the price of the blood of our officers?”

Army Chief General Moin U Ahmed himself admitted in the meeting that the allegations made by the BDR jawans were ‘false and incited’, but the army was kept inactive on government orders.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina repeatedly said at the meeting, “We wanted to avoid further bloodshed. If we had not negotiated, thousands more lives would have been lost.”

But this explanation did not reduce the anger of the army officers. On the contrary, many believe that this ‘soft policy’ of the government has left the army humiliated and helpless.

This anger was evident at the state funeral for the victims the next day, March 2. Even among the hundreds of thousands of people at the cantonment, many army officers were heard whispering among themselves: “We are being humiliated today because we were unable to fight.”

It is clear from that meeting in the barracks and the audio that was leaked later that the army’s deepest blow in the BDR killings was not only the loss of its colleagues, but also the fact that they were not allowed to take revenge. This resentment remains a dark chapter in the military-political relationship in Bangladesh to this day.