The National Independent Investigation Commission formed to investigate the 2009 BDR carnage said on Thursday that the commission had taken statements of 37 people in its 41 working days.
The commission was formed on December 24, 2024 and it was asked to complete the investigation by 90 working days.
The witnesses are mostly former army officers, including three lieutenant generals, two major generals, five brigadier generals, four colonels, four lieutenant colonels, seven majors and two captains, seven erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles members and three members from slain officers鈥� families, said the commission鈥檚 president retired Major General ALM Fazlur Rahman at a press conference in the capital Dhaka.
鈥極f the army officers, some are serving and most of the others are former officers,鈥� said the commission president.
Fazlur said that they were prioritising survivors, armed forces command, Rapid Action Battalion and police officials concerned, members of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and National Security Intelligence, persons who were entrusted with command responsibility, persons who created obstacle to military operation, ministries concerned, political and foreign involvement and the violation of the Army Act.聽
鈥楳any witnesses and those who were involved in the incident are either dead, or fugitive or staying in foreign countries. It will cause a delay in collecting such witnesses鈥� statements,鈥� said Fazlur, adding that many witnesses could not be able to recall time, date and many issues of the incident.
He said that the commission had requested the authorities concerned to ban several people from travelling abroad.
Fazlur also said that the commission decided to contact with some foreign embassies and had already sent a letter to the foreign ministry in this connection.
He said that the commission had opened a web site, bdr-commission.org, and anyone could give information through the web site.
鈥業 think that we would need more time as we will not be able to complete our task by the stipulated time,鈥� he said while responding to a reporter鈥檚 question.
At least 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the BDR carnage that took place in February 25-26, 2009.
On January 23, a total of 178 former members of the then BDR were released from different jails on bail in an explosive case linked to the 2009 BDR mutiny amid protest by the victim families and students.
On January 29, survivors and families of the victims of the BDR carnage at a press conference in Dhaka said that it would be unjust if all imprisoned and death row convicts were released on a wholesale basis, as they thought that all BDR soldiers were not innocent.