There are no instances in recent history where such a large number of officers were killed in the spate of 24 hours as that of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) massacre on Feb 25, 2009. During the entire period of the nine-month long Liberation War in 1971, Bangladesh forces lost 47 officers.

It is true also that in recent times, never were such a large number of soldiers tried in one single case and so many awarded the death penalty. The court trying the case of BDR killings, which includes 10 BDR soldiers and seven civilians also, has awarded death penalty to 152 of the more than 800 accused.

The law of the land has taken its course. Not everyone will be pleased with the verdict, and while the family members of the victims of the massacre will feel that justice has been done, those that have been punished may feel aggrieved by the punishments awarded.

One is at a loss as to how to respond to a common refrain from the media regarding how one feels about the judgment. As somebody who has been deeply scarred by the massacre, (and I am sure that there is hardly anyone who was not) not that there was any close kin among the dead but all of them were my kindred spirit, and many of them I had helped rear up as soldiers, my views may be influenced by sentiments. I ask — can one life recompense the loss of another? The death penalty may assuage the feeling of the victim’s relatives but will it fill the void in their lives?

There is nothing to rejoice at the verdict either because the 152 who have been awarded the death penalty were also a part of the same outfit, and doing so would only show us as a bloodthirsty nation, which we are certainly not. It was so moving to see the very dignified demeanour of the wives of the some of the victims when asked to give their feeling about the judgment.

The question is, is the matter sealed and closed after the verdict of the court? I think not. This court has tried those accused in the killings. The matter of the mutiny has not been clarified even if some have been tried by BDR court for mutiny. There are many things that we are in dark about but which must be brought to light for the sake of the nation’s security and to prevent such heinous acts being repeated.

While the court has pointed to some causative factors that led to the killings, to cite those as the main reason for the incident is taking too simplistic a view of the issue. No soldier takes up arms against his superiors because some of his administrative demands have not been addressed. I am inclined to think that the mutiny was not the brainchild of BDR personnel of the rank of the deputy assistant directors (DADs). They were certainly prompted from outside. Who and from where is what the government must find out. In this regard the PM and the state minister for law have come out with their views of who might have been behind the carnage, and they were quoting a website posting. We have always been stressing on the need to abstain from giving out speculative or judgmental views on the issue. One wonders whether someone like the PM should quote a website posting that has not been verified. And if we were to believe that, how should we take the information in a posting in the same website which names several Awami League politicians as complicit in the killings?

There too has been a persistent controversy about the way the mutiny was handled. There is a view that it was dealt with a kid glove. There was too much delay in reacting to the situation which gave them the opportunity to kill so many officers. A shock action by a small force may have succeeded in pulverising the mutineers to submission. On the other hand, the government logic for not doing so is that a direct assault would have led to more deaths given the built up area around Peelkhana.

It is easy to be wise in hindsight. It was a Catch-22 situation for the government. It was a matter of taking quick decision, and naturally any decision that had the prospect of fewer casualties was preferable. An attack may have led to more casualties but we have no way of knowing since that option was not tried out.

The writer is Editor, Oped and Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star

By arrangement with The Daily Star/ANN