Mutiny in Bangladesh - Soma Chakravarty

On the 25th of February, a mutiny broke out in the Bangladesh Defence Force (BDR) headquarters in Dhaka. About 9,000 border guards rose up against their superiors from the Bangladesh Army, who head the BDR under deputation. The mutineers were asking for better pay and facilities. They used heavy artillery resulting in an unexpectedly high number of casualties within the force, as well as among civilians. Bodies of scores of officers were found stuffed into drains and buried in shallow graves at a border compound in Dhaka, and several bodies were unearthed later in the week. The normal life of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, was seriously affected as a result of the incident. All academic, commercial, cultural and social programmes were suspended in the areas adjacent to the BDR headquarters, which is situated in the heart of the country's capital.

The revolt came just two months after Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won national elections, which followed two years of military rule. The newly elected government in the country, including the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Home Minister Sahara Khatun, intervened in the situation by holding series of discussions with the protesting BDR guards, resulting in the surrendering of arms by the rebel soldiers after two days of mass killing. This revolt, it appears, is the result of grievances which have existed over a long period of time and which had never been seriously addressed. The BDR guards were aggrieved over alleged serious forms of discrimination against them by the army officers. Not only are BDR guards poorly paid compared to army officers, but while on deputation in the BDR, army officers are also entitled to allowances and other perks unlike the BDR guards.

Bangladesh often has the largest contingent in UN peacekeeping missions overseas. These missions generate compensatory payments for the country as well as salaries for the participating soldiers and officers, far above what they earn at home. This very disparity, many argue, could also be a factor behind the current mutiny. The BDR, whose primary duty is to ensure border security, does not often get to share the UN bounty because of the nature of its job. It also does not have any officers of its own. Commissioned officers from the army do that job. Guards within the BDR have opposed being led by army officers, saying they want commanders to be drawn from their own ranks. In terms of corruption, it is the top ranking army officers who use their authority for their own enrichment and in recent months there have 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 the wife of the Director General could be prevented from doing so. All these problems compounded reached an unbearable point, leading to the outbreak.

Many argue that the background to the revolt is also a change of government, where the present regime won a landslide victory. This climate of political change seems to have provided the BDR an opportunity to launch their revolt for the purpose of improvement of their service conditions. On March 3, security forces arrested Touhidul Alam, who was assistant director of the BDR at the time of the revolt, suspecting him to be behind the organisation of the mutiny. Alam, who led negotiations with the PM that eventuallu helped end the uprising, was arrested along with four other suspected mutineers in Dhaka, the capital. Soldiers are still on the hunt for more than 1,000 BDR guards believed to be involved in the two-day massacre. The police have charged them with murder, arson and hostage-taking. Many guards surrendered after Sheikh Hasina sent tanks and troops into the streets of Dhaka and threatened to put down the mutiny by force. Though the PM had originally offered the mutineers an amnesty, she retracted after it became known that the guards had resorted to mass killing of their seniors. Checkpoints have been set up across the country and ferries are being searched for fleeing mutineers. According to reports, initially there was some support for the BDR from the public, especially on the issue of their grievances, but as the killings came to light and the gore was exposed, people were shocked at what they saw.

The violence is the first major crisis facing the PM since she was elected in late December last year, when Bangladesh returned to democracy after nearly two years of army-backed emergency rule. The scale of the revolt has also led to speculation that it was meant to destabilise the freshly elected government, raising fears over a possible coup.

This mutiny has brought back the spectre of violence that has marked this country's recent political history. That the army had to be called out to quell the uprising just weeks after December's election is an important reminder that the country's political situation remains complex and fragile despite the restoration of democratic rule. Warnings were issued prior to the elections that any unrest could distract the poll winners from implementing much-needed economic reforms and discourage prospective investment. There were also concerns about the role of the military once an elected government took charge.