DHAKA: A commission set up to investigate a violent mutiny that saw dozens of senior army officers massacred 16 years ago on Sunday said former premier Sheikh Hasina had ordered the killings.
Rampaging troops from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) murdered 74 people, including military officers, during the two-day revolt that began in Dhaka and spread across the country in 2009, destabilising the government of then-premier Hasina weeks after she took office.
After Hasina was ousted last year following a student-led uprising, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus formed a commission to investigate the incident.
Hasina, 78, has since sought refuge in India, defying court orders that she return to Bangladesh.
According to the commission’s report submitted on Sunday, the then-Awami League government led by Hasina was directly involved in the mutiny.
Former member of parliament Fazle Noor Taposh acted as the “principal coordinator” and at the behest of Hasina who gave the “green signal” to carry out the killings, the government’s press office said, quoting the commission chief, A.L.M. Fazlur Rahman.
“The involvement of a foreign force was strongly evident in the investigation,” the statement added.
At a news conference later in the day, Rahman accused India of trying to destabilize the country and “weaken the Bangladesh Army” following the carnage.
“There had been a conspiracy brewing for a long time to weaken Bangladesh’s forces,” Rahman said.
There was no immediate response from India over the accusation.
India’s support for Hasina has frayed relations between the two neighbors since her overthrow.
Yunus welcomed the commission’s report, saying the nation had long remained in the dark about the reasons behind the 2009 killings.
“Through the commission report, the truth has finally been revealed,” he said.
A previous investigation into the mutiny blamed years of pent-up anger among soldiers, who felt their appeals for pay rises and better treatment were ignored.
But that probe was carried out during Hasina’s tenure, and her opponents claimed her involvement in a conspiracy to orchestrate the mutiny in order to weaken the military and bolster her own power.
Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina ordered 2009 killings: commission
https://arab.news/g7bvh
Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina ordered 2009 killings: commission
- Rampaging troops from the Bangladesh Rifles murdered 74 people during the two-day revolt that began in Dhaka and spread across the country in 2009
Sweden wants to strip organized crime leaders of citizenship
- A bill submitted to parliament on Friday includes a proposal that would allow revoking passports of double citizenship holders convicted of “crimes”
STOCKHOLM: The Swedish government on Friday proposed changes to the constitution that would allow revoking the citizenship of some criminal gang leaders, as part of its work to combat widespread organized crime.
In January, a cross-party parliamentary committee proposed constitutional changes to allow stripping the passports of people with dual nationality convicted of espionage or treason, but stopped short of suggestions targeting organized crime.
“The government has chosen to go further than the committee’s proposal precisely to make it possible to also revoke citizenship from, for example, gang leaders who are guilty of very, very serious harm to society,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told a press conference.
He said a bill submitted to parliament on Friday includes a proposal that would allow revoking passports of double citizenship holders convicted of “crimes that gravely affect vital national interests” such as serious gang crime.
Sweden has been plagued by organized crime-related violence for well over a decade.
The government and its backers, the far-right and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, won the 2022 election on a promise to reduce immigration and gang crime, which they say are linked. New general elections are due in 2026.
To change the Swedish constitution, the proposals need to pass a vote in parliament with a simple majority, followed by a general election and then a second Riksdag vote.
Strommer said he aims for the proposed changes to the constitution to enter into force at the start of 2027.
