As part of the ongoing drive to nab the killers of army
officers the government on Sunday decided
to deploy the members of the armed forces across the country to arrest the
fugitive rebels of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and seize missing firearms.
A Home Ministry official on
condition of anonymity said yesterday the troops would be deployed in aid of
the civil administration under the 'Operation Rebel Hunt.'
"Army personnel will help
the police to arrest the rebels and seize the looted arms," the official
unwilling to be named told The New Nation last night. He said the army would be
withdrawn as soon the situation would come under control.
The decision came hours after the
meeting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with army officers at Sena Kunja at
Dhaka Cantonment yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament she
had summoned the army to begin 'Operation Rebel Hunt' to find those wanted for
the 33-hour revolt in the capital, which began Wednesday.
She said some 668 members of the
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) were in custody and warrants had been issued for
another 1,000 over the killings, which ended with dozens of mutilated bodies
dumped in mass graves.
Sheikh Hasina said the army would
be deployed from Monday. She said she was also seeking help from FBI agents and
Britain's Scotland Yard in the case.
In the meantime , over 1,000 BDR soldiers were sued on
Sunday for rising up against their officers, from the army, in the Bangladesh
Rifles Headquarters in Dhaka in February 25–26.
Several score
officers and some soldiers and civilians were killed in the rebellion, which
broke out Wednesday morning and ended with the surrender of the soldiers after
35 hours late Thursday.
The Lalbagh
police officer-in-charge, Nabajyoti Khisha, lodged the case against the
soldiers, accused of taking up arms led by four junior BDR officials against
their officers.
The plaintiff
in the first information report named four junior BDR officials — deputy
assistant directors Tahidul Alam, Nasir Uddin Khan, Mirza Habibur Rahman
and Abdul Jalil and soldiers Abdur Rahim and Mohammad Selim to have led the
rebellion.