Editorial
New probe body into BDR tragedy
Investigations must be quick, unfettered and focused
WE welcome the reconstitution of the inquiry committee to probe into the gruesome incidents perpetrated at BDR headquarters on February 25. The new eleven-member committee, which will replace the earlier six-member body, will be headed by a former secretary and include in it members of the three branches of the armed forces as well as the new director general of Bangladesh Rifles. It is our expectation, as it is certainly of the nation as a whole, that the investigations to be carried out by the inquiry committee will be thorough and absolutely unfettered by partisan considerations of any kind. After what has happened at the BDR premises, it is only proper that the committee, in the course of its work, be made privy to all documents and all other assistance that will prove substantive in the search for results.
In this connection, we note with satisfaction Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's speech in Parliament that even if anyone involved with the ruling party is found to have been complicit in the gruesome incidents of February 25, he or she will be dealt with under the law of the land. Such an attitude is truly appreciated and we trust that no one at any level of the administration will therefore seek to divert the course of the investigations. Given the macabre nature of the tragedy that we are only now beginning to come through, the probe committee must not have any impediments or distractions coming its way. There are the many priorities before the committee, as has been made clear by the Home Ministry announcement relating to its setting up. Additionally, we would like to point out that one of the critical areas the probe must focus on is the failure of intelligence to spot the conspiracy that surely must have been going on for a while. The nation has been told that the BDR security apparatus was relatively small and so limited in scope. Even so, its failure and that of other agencies must be taken into account. An identification of the loopholes is an absolute necessity.
Finally, we must remind the authorities that there ought not to be a repeat of the past where inquiry reports are concerned. No report of any public inquiry has so far been made public. Let there be a departure from that bad norm this time, particularly because of the very grave nature of the crimes committed at BDR headquarters.
We might add that the bad start to the inquiry process by the formation of the first probe body should not have happened. But now that a new committee is in place, let it work to the fullest satisfaction of the nation.
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