VICTIM families of the 2009 carnage in the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as the Border Guard Bangladesh, term the earlier legal proceedings a mockery of justice, noting that partisan interests of the Awami League government, overthrown on August 5, clouded the investigation. Several hundred border guards took up arms against their officers deputed from the army in February 25鈥�26, 2009, leaving 75 people, including 57 army officers, dead. Special courts imprisoned 5,926 soldiers to varying terms on rebellion charges in 57 cases, including 11 in Dhaka and two criminal cases 鈥� related to the murders and under explosive substances 鈥� are pending with the court. Members of the families of the slain officers at a press conference in Dhaka on August 18 said that the narrative of a dispute over benefits disparity between the BDR and the army was false, noting that it was done to deflect attention away from the motives. Terming the massacre an unprecedented event in which Awami League political figures, including the now-deposed prime minister, conspired with a foreign nation to orchestrate the killing, the families demanded an independent investigation commission.
This is, however, not the first time that the families have made such demands, but their call for justice and an independent investigation, as the son of the slain BDR director general alleges, was met with death threats from some Awami League leaders. Immediately after the carnage, two committees were formed, but neither could establish the motive or the masterminds. None of the reports were made public in their entirety and the families alleged that the report partially released had been revised three times before its publication. They, therefore, demanded that the reports should be made public immediately so that a transparent investigation of the incident could be possible. Many BDG soldiers, under trial and convicted, levelled serious allegations of custodial torture. International rights organisations condemned the unfair mass trial after the use of torture, particularly when the death penalty is involved. The Awami League regime, however, maintained its partisan narrative that the murderous event was a result of a dispute over material benefits between the two forces which is believed to have obstructed justice.
The allegations that a foreign government was involved in the carnage and a political party聽presiding over the government that time played an active role in it are too serious to have been left uninvestigated. The interim government must, therefore, take early steps to form an independent commission, as suggested by the High Court in 2017, and make all previous investigation reports public. People can now expect a credible investigation and the full truth of the BDR carnage, considering that the home affairs adviser to the interim government was the head of one of the earlier committees.