Does anyone see any similarities of the act of mutinies and the act of the collaborators and killers of 1971? Well, please open your eyes and just wonder for a moment! Think - what happened in the BDR headquarters? In summary there was so much grief inside those BDR Jawans about their pay and their benefits, their style of life etc. that they revolted. And so the international media report goes like below: “This revolt, it appears, is the result of grievances which have existed over a long period of time and which have never been seriously addressed. The BDR officers are aggrieved that there has been serious forms of discrimination against them by the army officers who have been placed in control of the BDR. In terms of corruption, it is the top ranking officers who use their authority for their own enrichment and in recent months there had been instances in which family members of senior officers, including those of the Director General, have attempted to leave the country with large sums of money. It was only due to the intervention of the Customs officers that prevented the wife of the Director General from doing so. Other grievances are that the BDR officers are poorly paid as opposed to the army officers on deputation in the BDR. Not only to they receive higher salaries they are also entitled to allowances and other perks while in service. The BDR officers face all the risk involved while guarding the borders and controlling smuggling, while the army officers who are stationed in their comfortable offices enjoy all the benefits.”1 “The issues were being put forward to PM but not all, which intensified their grievance. "The DG raised before the prime minister only two demands of the army officers in BDR but none of the demands of soldiers. This intensified our grievance."2 While their points and grievances can be understood that the army officers enjoy all the benefits, the army officers who were in charge of BDR, suppressed the Jawans much as their detainees. With all due sympathies to them, it should have been addresses in a much sober but stentorian manner. It is no wonder that these Jawans live a very hard life with the amount they receive and the task they do, but lest we forget, how the police in Bangladesh also live a very hard life with the pay they get? When any one signs up for the army, BDR and police or any force, their first priority is to save the life of people, not to kill. If they are low paid, like so many in this world, they have the right to bring that forward to attention but there is a civil way. The most they can do is to stop working for a whole day like 6,000 did. They left their station to celebrate BDR week as well as to carry out this whole massacre. What an irony! Let’s turn the attentions to the murders for this moment. There have been hostages, there have been tortures, killings, and there have been rape as well (the pictures are so gruesome that it creates a long-term psychological impact). Are there mass graves? Of course! Are there graves where they dumped the bodies like the bodies are garbage? Yes! Were there any body burnt alive? Sure! Were the bodies thrown in the ditches and drains like a plastic bag? You bet! Have mothers been raped and children been killed? No doubt! Have we seen such atrocity before in last 38 years? NO! What were these Jawans thinking? Did they think terror like this will bend the Army and the government so easily that they will fall on their knees and accept all the demand they made and then using the magic of Aladin will solve every problem instantly? They were not that fool. They can’t be that fool. Those who know their rights and can voice their opinion are not that stupid to think that killings and rape of hundreds of officers and their families will solve everything. These people were smart, they worked for Bangladesh Rifles. They could not be thinking that way, it is just simply impossible. There is a very raw similarity of how people were killed in ’71 by Pakistanis and the collaborators during the nine month period. They killed; they raped and made mass graves even by having the victim to dig their own graves. They burnt people alive and then they threw the bodies into those ditches and graves as if the bodies were nothing but garbage. Bangladesh is still finding mass graves from 1971 and we are still shocked how they did so heinous act. When mass graves like these are dug and bodies are thrown in, the idea is not to hide the bodies rather to display. The killers were not ashamed and just wanted to hide the bodies, they wanted it to be displayed and discovered as the Pakistani’s and their collaborators did in 1971. There is a message “we will do this to you and your families if you do not cooperate”. This is a form of dreadful threat. It is a very raw non verbal threat that the terrorists use all over the world. In any calculation the BDR revolt was not simply a protest; it is terrorism and well planned. Who is behind it? Like many others I say, it was Jamaat-e-Islami. We can relate to the timing of the event. It was in BDR week. More over what we should not forget that it happened just after the government declared the trial of the perpetrators is underway and is one of the priorities. There would not have been a better chance and time to do this massacre other than BDR week. The perpetrators of 71 and Jamaat-e-Islami were in a very tensed and shaky situation due to the demand of trial and their denial of what they did in those days. Even before the election, the trial issue was so hot that it was well known that the new government (prediction said it would be Awami League) will be acting on this issue. So, there was plenty of time for the planners to act on and there is no doubt. They just waited for the declaration to come out. More over, few weeks ago (the week of 20th) Mr. Mujahidi from Jamaat-e-Islami threatened in public that they will “see” how the trial happens. It has been reported that Madrasha Graduates were encouraged to join the army in 2001-2006 time period3. It can be explained two ways, one is that those Madrasha Graduates are technically jobless after their graduation because simply there are not enough madrasha’s or mosque to absorb them in their specialty areas so why not join the Non-commissioned rank positions in army or BDR or police. It sounds very innocent and promising for those poor graduates. Since demand meets supply for Bangladesh army it sounds very promising as well for Bangladesh army and border protection force. However, if the plan is a little crooked and twisted than what it appears to be, then we have a case in the hand. Those hardcore islamist tend to have a Pro-Jamaat ideology as Jamaat is claimed to be the only “Islamic” party and supposedly the only party that can lay the rules of Islam in a nation that they claim has become non-islamic in many ways (we are such non-islamic that Jamaat has to destroy all our creative art and craft works in the streets!!, that we should not enjoy 1st Baishak as they declare it is non-islamic!!!). It just very well relates to those fundamentalist Pakistani minded people back in 71 when they literally said East Pakistanis were not true muslims, only West Pakistani’s were saccha (true) muslims. They claimed East Pakistanis needed to be made true Muslims by force and fear. That is why they killed millions in various manners, raped thousands and then left the bodies in mass graves, Those madrasha graduates, who are well washed in their brains and linked with Jamaat, Horkatul Jihad, Shibir etc., are capable and trained to do these activities. Had these fundamentalist and pro-jamaat graduates were plugged in the BDR as non-commissioned officers, no wonder an event like this can be carried out almost perfectly. And report said 20-25 non-commissioned troops of BDR led the carnage6. International report reads7: “Apparently, there was no single leader of the mutiny. All soldiers of the small lead group seemed to be leaders in their own right - in brutality and all from a force whose main task is to protect the country’s borders.” Every serial killer has a pattern; every terrorist group has their own style of killing people or performing a heinous act. Random killers do not show a pattern because their primary idea is to hit and run, or to kill and leave. They do not take the time like a serial killer or a terrorist group to do something thing with dead bodies. An act like making mass grave has been done only one time in the history of Bangladesh back in 1971. This is the strongest similarity between the mutinies and the collaborators and war criminals of 1971. There are very clear incentives of Jamaat. Jamaat has been struggling to gain political stand in Bangladesh where they should have been banned in the first place. Their leaders were perpetrators in 1971 and are supposed to be subject of Trial by Bangladesh Government in the coming days. There has been a great move internationally also that plea for the trial of war criminals. So the movement is in a very high point now. Before the election there had been much eye opening discussion and publicity by the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and many leaflet and posters had been distributed to people of Bangladesh about who were involved in the massacre of 1971. That literally helped Bangladeshi people to remember the events of 1971 and to keep Jamaat out of the race. This was a slap on the face for Jamaat. No wonder why they would be very angry. They just needed to find a show that can only minimize their act. Now they can argue, BDR people did the same as the criminals of 71, are they perpetrators? This is a stage for them to defend nothing more than that. They needed it right now as the process of trial is beginning. Secondly, it is also important for Jamaat to divert the attention of the government and the people of Bangladesh to something else that need immediate attention so that the trial issue gets laid aside. They needed to de-stabilize the government as they thought the army would take the necessary revengeful action to do what is necessary to override the government’s instruction5. The impact could have been much larger had not the government taken a bold strategic action to handle the scenario. The history of Bangladesh says the army can make bloodshed and take control of the power in times when there is a massacre. Had the army not played a wonderful role8 this time and let the government handle the surrenders, there could have been be a possibility of military power again and a possibility of the prime minister getting killed as had happened before. If that were to happen, Jamaat and their supportive organizations would have been benefited the most. Jamaat did participate in a public protest asking for reestablishment of the BDR jawans and officials to their jobs. It’s a great gesture, but when every party is mourning, shocked with horror and asking punishment of the criminals, what made Jamat to do a procession in favor of reestablishment? Who are these people that they were asking restoration for? What was Jamaat’s interest? Should not they be asking for judgment and punishment of the associates of this severe killing and atrocity? The underlying reason for their sympathy could be rooted much deeper. Shall these killers be granted a public forgiveness and restored to their jobs and lives, it becomes a huge logic in favor of the forgiveness and restoration of the Jamaat leaders who were involved in mass killing in 1971. As the prime minister said this is not just an act of just “few” mutinies but it was a well planned production and well funded. This crime against humanity is simply not because of grievances against less pay and suppression of the BDR Jawans9. As the stories are coming out, it is becoming more evident that it was an act of a specific group and analysis say it is Jamaat-e-Islami. We all hope that the Army will support Bangladesh government to their level best to operate the investigation. We all hope the connections that I have mentioned here considered deeply and looked into. We all hope with help of international intelligence, and the fast track court, the criminals will be brought to justice. However, it must be taken into consideration that the only few who have been captured and tried may not be the ultimate planner. They may be just mere plan executor. Just too fast trial of these people charged should not be the ultimate goal; it should go beyond to dig out the planners. Moreover, we hope that Bangladesh government does not lay the issue of trial of criminals of 1971 aside. Separate tribunals should be working on separate issues so that no distraction happens in any time. Let us pray for the people who lost their lives. Let us be strong and stand by the side of the families and support the government to identify the real planners behind it and try them as well. Sources: 1 Click This Link 2 Click This Link 3 Click This Link 4 Click This Link 5 Click This Link 6 Click This Link 7 Click This Link 8 Click This Link 9 Click This Link