Dhaka, May 27(bdnews24.com)—The national enquiry committee has found no link of militancy or foreign force to the bloody BDR massacre and attributed the long-running grievances over demands and negative attitude towards army officials to the mutiny.
The committee has recommended fast trial of the mutineers under the Army Act, head of the probe committee, M Anis-uz Zaman Khan, said on Wednesday.
The committee's report also recommends trying the mutineers under the Army Act for fast trial.
The government's findings were finally made public, three months after the Feb 25-26 carnage at the border force's Peelkhana headquarters.
The panel suggested further investigation to dig deeper into the truth.
The government released the 309-page report, which was submitted to the home minister Sahara Khatun on May 21, at a press briefing at the home ministry.
The report included eight-point short-term and 15-point long-term recommendations, apart from a recommendation for forming a committee on facing national crisis.
It stated that the motives of the mutiny were to dysfunction the border force by destroying the chain of command, discourage the army officials to serve the BDR on deputation and bring the army and the BDR face to face.
Destroying the army, destabilising the incumbent government, disturbing internal security and stability of the country, spoiling the image of the country abroad and thwarting the army from participating in the UN-led peace missions were also part of the plot, the report said
The government formed the inquiry committee on Feb 26, originally headed by the home minister, but later reformed the committee with the retired civil servant as its chief amid calls for removal of ministers.
The re-constituted committee, formed on Mar 2, began work the following day. The first deadline for its report, March 9, was extended by seven working days. On Mar 23, the committee asked for and received another four days.
Finally on Mar 30, the committee was allowed 30 more workdays to submit the report for a proper investigation into the bloodbath.
The renegades killed at least 57 of their own senior officers and buried bodies in shallow graves inside the Peelkhana headquarters.
Anis-uz Zaman dismissed the comment of Faurq Khan, the coordinator of probe committees and commerce minister, suggesting links of militants and foreign states as 'his own'.
"Really, we did not find any link of militancy and overseas states to the incident," he said.
"We've prepared the report objectively based on facts. We've performed the mammoth task despite various limitations," Anisuzzaman told reporters at the time.
Asked about the report, the member-secretary of the probe committee, Md Golam Hossain, also additional home secretary said," We had some limitations. Such type of tasks requires much time, requisite equipment as well as skill.
"Like CID and RAB, it is not possible for a civil committee to unearth all things," Hossain said
Home minister Sahara Khatun said, "Cases have been filed to dig out the real culprits. We will bring the perpetrators to justice after proper investigation"
The minister said that the government had made 'history by making the probe committee public'.
The state minister for home, Tanjim Ahmed, said, "The report reflects the government's policy to reveal the truth."
Home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar said, "By this time, the government has proved that it has the moral courage to speak the truth and it will also make all future probe report public."
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