Former border force personnel, who were dismissed following the 2009 rebellion in the formerly Bangladesh Rifles, on Thursday staged demonstrations in Rajshahi demanding reinstatement of their jobs.
They also called for the immediate release of their fellow members who had been serving in jail, and impartial reinvestigation and justice into the killing of 75 people, including 57 army officers, in the rebellion.
Over 200 border force personnel along with their family members formed a human chain at Saheb Bazar Zero Point area in the city to press home their demands.
They said that they had been living a very miserable life after the then authorities had relieved of their duties although they did nothing wrong.
Recalling the incident on February 25鈥�26, 2009, former nayek signal Md Aktaruzzaman said that he was in-charge of communications and information systems in the 鈥楧arbar Hall鈥� auditorium at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana.
鈥楳embers of the India鈥檚 external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, along with some traitors of the BDR, who were close to the Awami League leaders Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Jahangir Kabir Nanok, shot our senior patriot officers to death,鈥� he said.
Lance nayek Delowar said that 18,520 of them were then fired for not giving false witness in favour of the killings.
鈥楢fter we were dismissed from the force, no government or non-government organisations accepted us in their services,鈥� he stressed
Now, some of them are running grocery stores, some are selling tea, some are working as day labourers, some are paddling rickshaws to survive, he mentioned, adding, 鈥楧id we shed our blood at the border for this?鈥�
Rashida Begum, wife of former BDR personnel, said that after her husband was imprisoned following the rebellion, she went to various non-government organisations for a job but all of them rejected her only for her husband.
Former nayek Md Sohel said that he was dismissed just nine days after he had joined the service after completing six-month training.
鈥榃hat did I then do wrong? Why was I dismissed? I want impartial investigation into it and justice for those who were involved,鈥� he said.
They also urged the interim-government to reinstate the jobs of those BDR personnel who were still of working age, to release fellow personnel who had been serving imprisonment in jails, and compensation to the deceased personnel鈥檚 family members.
In February 25鈥�26, 2009, several hundred soldiers of erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh, launched an armed rebellion at the force鈥檚 headquarters at Pilkhana in the capital in which 57 officers deputed from the army, two wives of army officers, nine Bangladesh Rifles members, five civilians, an army soldier, and a police constable were killed.
Border guard special courts sentenced 5,926 soldiers to varying jail terms on mutiny charges in 57 cases.
