There is clear, reliable, and objective evidence linking the BNP-Jamaat alliance to the BDR massacre. They have never been able to provide a satisfactory answer to any of it.
Here are some deeply troubling questions:
1. Where was Khaleda Zia on the day of the BDR mutiny and the two days that followed?
The day before the massacre, Tarique Rahman called her 45 times from London between 1am and 6am, instructing her to leave her residence by 6am. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presented these facts—including call records—in Parliament. Sheikh Hasina has never made such serious allegations without concrete evidence. When BNP questioned Tarique Rahman’s citizenship, they immediately sent legal notices. Yet when the prime minister directly accused them in Parliament with specific evidence, the BNP remained completely silent—even though their leaders were present. Why?
2. Just days before the mutiny, Pakistan sent its president’s special envoy, Zia Ispahani, to Bangladesh. He formally requested that the government stop the trials of war criminals. On February 17, he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and delivered the request officially. Sheikh Hasina rejected it outright.
On February 20—just four days before the massacre—Khaleda Zia held a private meeting with the same Zia Ispahani. Why? Who invited him? Given the identical interests of the ISI and the BNP-Jamaat alliance, is there any reason to believe their objectives were not aligned?
3. A defeated party usually remains inactive and demoralised in the immediate aftermath of an election loss. Yet on February 20, 2009, BNP broke every past pattern and instructed its grassroots leaders from across the country to rush to Dhaka on February 24—the day before the mutiny.
Pilkhana Tragedy: Awami League remembers martyred army officers, family members
Awami League bins Yunus’ BDR mutiny report targeting Sheikh Hasina, India
Pilkhana Tragedy: Awami League remembers martyred army officers, family members
If the goal was to lift party morale after defeat, only Khaleda Zia herself could have issued such a directive. Yet she was absent from the February 24 meeting. The meeting ended in the afternoon. From that very night, a systematic campaign began to incite anger in BDR members. Can this timing really be called a coincidence?
4. After Pakistan’s request was rejected, and just four days before the mutiny, senior Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, later convicted for war crimes, tried to flee the country. He was stopped at the airport by law enforcement. Why was he so desperate to leave Bangladesh at that exact moment?
5. Many of the BDR members who confessed to direct involvement in the killings—including Sepoy Main and Subedar Major Ghafran Mallik—were recruited and promoted during the BNP-Jamaat regime.
Of the 22 accused who fled after the massacre, 14 were arrested from Tangail. Investigation revealed that the BNP deputy minister and the August 21 grenade attack accused, Abdus Salam Pintu, had issued official DO letters recommending their jobs. Pintu’s well-documented links with Pakistani militant groups, closeness to the ISI, and involvement in arms smuggling have been cited in investigations by both Bangladesh and India. Are all these connections mere coincidences?
6. After five years of anarchy, corruption, and misrule, the BNP-Jamaat alliance tried desperately to cling to power in 2006, but the army foiled their plan. Senior officers, including former Army Chief Lt. Gen. Moin U. Ahmed and Maj. Gen. Sadiq Hasan Rumi, later exposed the alliance’s misdeeds.
To eliminate Sheikh Hasina and leave the nation leaderless, the August 21, 2004, grenade attack was carried out on an Awami League rally. To hide high-level involvement, the infamous “Judge Mia” drama was staged.
During their rule, Khaleda Zia and war criminal Nizami publicly denied the existence of JMB and Islamist militants, calling militancy a “media creation.” Yet the very officers who arrested top militants—Mufti Hannan, Bangla Bhai, Shaykh Abdur Rahman, Ataur Rahman Sunny—and exposed the “Joj Mia” plot included BDR Director General Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed and Col. Gulzar (son of a martyred freedom fighter). These facts were extremely embarrassing for the BNP.
Most of those brutally murdered in Pilkhana had played a key role in ensuring the fair 2008 election. The level of brutality—especially against the BDR chief and senior officers—could not have happened without high-level orders. In the equation of the BDR massacre, can the BNP-Jamaat’s deep anger, desire for revenge, and political interests simply be ignored?
7. Within weeks of forming the government, the Pilkhana massacre took place on February 25–26, 2009. Fifty-seven brilliant Army officers and members of their families—a total of 78 people—were slaughtered. Almost all the slain officers, including Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed and Col. Gulzar, were strong supporters of the spirit of the Liberation War. Among the victims was also Captain Majharul Haider, son-in-law of the then Inspector General of Police.
These “sons of the sun” were not just a loss to the Army—they were an irreparable loss to the entire nation. In the balance sheet of politics, did the Awami League not suffer this devastating blow?
8. Almost every lawyer who has fought in court for the accused in the BDR massacre case is closely linked to BNP or Jamaat politics. Prominent among them are senior BNP leaders: Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Barrister Rafiqul Haque, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia, and Md Jainul Abedin.
War criminal Delawar Hossain Sayeedi’s own counsel, SM Shahjahan and Faruk Ahmed, defended arrested Jamaat-Shibir activists. The rest—TM Akbar, Jamal, Zahirul Amin, Shafiqul Islam, Sultana Akter Ruby, Sheikh Rashedul Haque, Majedur Rahman Mamun, SM Refaz Uddin, Abdur Rashid, Khandaker Jamal, Ramzan Khan, Abdul Mannan, Humayun Kabir, Emdadul Haque Lal, Sufia Akter Helen, Aminur Rahman and others—are all senior leaders of the BNP-affiliated Bar Association or former public prosecutors during the BNP-Jamaat regime.
Is it normal for so many top BNP and Jamaat-linked lawyers to defend the accused killers in such a sensitive national tragedy without a party decision? Without a clear political interest, would anyone take such a risky and reckless step?
These are not random questions. They are backed by documented facts, parliamentary records, court documents, arrest memos, and official statements. The people of Bangladesh deserve to know the full truth behind the Pilkhana massacre—the darkest chapter in the nation’s military history.
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