Editorial
Extent of barbarity shocks nation
Deft handling of the crisis is creditable
THE extent of barbarity perpetrated by BDR troops on the serving army officers, as was revealed yesterday and the mass graves and bodies from sewerage that were uncovered have shocked us beyond measure. We have no words to express our outrage, anger and disgust at what a section of BDR jawans have done.
As the deep scar on the national psyche takes its time to heal, we can take a pause and draw a sense of relief at the speedy end to troops surrender at Peelkhana without any further bloodshed. We join the nation in expressing satisfaction over the political leadership's deft handling of the situation with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leading the way with great sagacity and rectitude. We also praise the restraint and maturity shown by the army whose pride, self-respect and sensibilities have been hurt by these killers and who must feel a lot of anger and sense of outrage. We share these feelings and praise them more for their restraint, in spite of such provocation.
PM's series of meetings with her senior cabinet, party and alliance colleagues, and very cogently, with chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force laid the basis for a coordinated approach to the challenge at hand. The consultative process the Prime Minister engaged in before delivering her decisive speech blending a persuasive message with a stern warning of a tough action in case of non-compliance by rebel elements was of the essence to her mature handling of the crisis. This also helped galvanise the entire law and order and security machinery behind the task of disarming rebel troops, rescuing hostages and recovering dead bodies and weapons.
As for the general amnesty announced by the government, we wish to reiterate our earlier editorial stance on the issue that those who were drawn into the rebellion and committed breach of discipline may deserve clemency, but not certainly those who perpetrated murder, mayhem and plunder. The latter category of offenders must be identified and brought to justice. They cannot go unpunished. We are happy to note that the PM has clarified her amnesty declaration in the above lines.
Indeed, as the full picture of the carnage unfolds, our heart goes out in sympathy to the families of the deceased and once again, we express our profound condolences.
We repeat what we said earlier, and we would like to place on record the calm, equanimity and fortitude with which the army has taken the loss of their peers. It only goes to their credit that they, out of a noble sense of duty to the country, gave peaceful resolution of the grave problem a chance.
Given the extent of the massacre the question that is naturally rising in the public mind is, could the mere issue of grievances about service condition or alleged mistreatment lead to such a huge number of officers being killed. The issue of intelligence failure has already been raised. Was there a total failure? Or was there a warning that was ignored? Obviously the situation calls for a deeper probe and unearthing of any relevant facts. We urge the government to launch such a probe as soon as possible and share with the public the findings through a discussion in the parliament.
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