Gen Rafiq new BDR DG, Gen Mainul replaced: Change come at a time when several thousands mutineers on trial

Major General Rafiqul Islam, chief of Bangladesh Ansar and VDP, has been made the Director General of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), according to a government notification yesterday.

Major General Mainul Islam may be selected for a crucial posting in army as he was asked to report to the army headquarters.

An establishment ministry statement announced the appointment of Rafiqul Islam, the director general of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR who is currently the head of auxiliary or para-police Ansar and VDP force. The change came at a time when the BDR witnesses trial of several thousand rebel border guards for the February 25-26, 2009 mutiny.

The statement, however, did not mention about the new posting of Mainul Islam but official sources said he was selected for a crucial posting in army as he was asked to report to the army headquarters.

Mainul was entrusted with the task of reorganizing the paramilitary troops after his predecessor Major General Shakil Ahmed was killed in the February 25-26 carnage along with 56 other army officers serving the paramilitary force on deputation.

“BDR had witnessed a massive stroke on February 25-26, but now the organization is on its feet to perform its assigned task . . . I see a dream of a better future in the eyes of my BDR soldiers,” Mainul said.

The change, however, came as Mainul was heading six BDR courts to try the ordinary mutineers who did not take part in heinous crimes like killings under the paramilitary force’s own law that suggested the highest seven years of imprisonment for breaching discipline.

The culprits of the BDR massacre, however, are set to be tried under the tough Speedy Trial Tribunal under the civil penal code suggesting the highest death penalty while the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police said they nearly finalized their investigations. They said some 900 BDR soldiers out of around 2,100 detained ones are expected to be charged for their alleged involvement in killings and lootings keeping the family members of the army officers at their Peelkhana headquarters hostage.

Seventy-four people, including the 57 senior army officers, were killed in the 33-hour siege.

The border guards were provided with new uniforms in a bid to overcome the mutiny stigma while the government recently approved “in principle” a proposed law for massive reconstruction of the mutiny infested BDR border force renaming it as Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and prescribing death penalty for such mutiny.

Trial completed in two places, Chapainawabganj and Thakurgaon, and all but one accused were sentenced to jail ranging up to seven years.

Pronouncing the verdict, Gen Mainul had said the court took a generous view to those who admitted their guilt.

Brig Gen Hasan Suhrawardy has been made the new Director General of Ansar and VDP.