আমি কিছুই লিখব না।

Seven months after the massacre at Peelkhana, the government has decided on the mode of the BDR mutiny trial. The mutineers will be tried under the BDR Act, but those charged with killings and looting will be tried under the penal code by speedy trial tribunal, law minister Shafique Ahmed told waiting reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday. "The Criminal Investigation Department will submit its probe report within a few days. Charges will be framed at the end of October and the trial will begin in November," he added. "All were inquisitive to know under which act the BDR mutiny trial will be held. The inquiry has come to an end through today's meeting," Ahmed said. The BDR director general would run the trial process of the mutineers outside Dhaka in line with the BDR act by forming courts in those places, according to the minister. "The trial will be fair and transparent under whichever act it takes place." The defendants can have self defence and appoint lawyers and the civilians involved with the mutiny will be tried under penal code, he said. Ahmed avoided a direct reply when asked whether a fair trial was possible with the BDR chief not wearing the uniform and sending Eid greetings using a new name for the border force without approval from proper authorities. Major General Moinul Islam later made an informal apology for sending the greetings as director general of the 'Bangladesh Border Guard'. The government decided to change BDR's name, uniform and insignia, among other organisational reforms, following last February's mutiny. President Zillur Rahman sent a reference to the Supreme Court on Aug 17 seeking directives on the trial process, specifically whether the trial of the BDR mutineers could be held under the Army Act 1952. The court appointed 10 senior lawyers as amici curiae, literally 'friends of the court', to advise on the reference. The court began hearing their opinions on the reference on Aug 25 and ended on Sept 3. The majority of the amici curiae opined that trial of BDR personnel could not be held under the Army Act, 1952 even by notification. Only two have spoken in favour of military trial while two others opined that the president's reference be sent back altogether. Amici curiae A F Hassan Ariff and A F M Mesbahuddin observed that it was not possible to try the mutineers under the Army Act. Mesbahuddin, the last of the advisers who concluded his statement at 11:30am, said the trial can be held under the existing law or speedy trial law. Three more senior lawyers, Dr Kamal Hossain, Mahmudul Islam and Ajmalul Hossain recommended against the possibility of trying the BDR mutineers under the Army Act. One of them spoke of withholding a judgment altogether on the president's reference on the trial of the mutiny. Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud was not in favour of the reference itself. But, Mahmud said, the mutiny case was filed under the criminal code. He said investigation was ongoing, with charges yet to be pressed and if the court gave answer to the president's reference it could "tie the hands of investigators". Mentioning different examples in India and Pakistan's Supreme Court, he said the reference could be sent back. Earlier, advocate T H Khan had also spoken against trial under the Army Act, and against the reference itself, while barrister Rafique-Ul Huq and advocate Khandaker Mahbubuddin Ahmed said the border guards could be tried under military law by issuing notification under the Army Act, Section 5—though Mahbubuddin also said there may be some question about the notification's retroactive effect. An inter-ministerial meeting on the mutiny trial mode decided last month that the president would seek the chief justice's opinion as opinions varied widely on whether the accused mutineers should be tried under BDR, army or civil laws. At least 73 people, including 57 army officers deputed to the paramilitary force, were killed in the bloody Feb 25-26 mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles' Peelkhana headquarters in Dhaka. Attorney general Mahbubey Alam, presenting the reference before the court on Aug 25, said the mutiny case filed in Dhaka saw some 1, 779 people arrested so far. Another 40 cases filed in connection with BDR rebellions outside Dhaka saw 1, 721 persons arrested. A total 3,500 people are facing trial in the cases, said Alam.