Expelled BDR personnel, relatives block Shahbagh protesting trial delays

স্বদেশ ডেস্ক:

BDR personnel – expelled from the force for alleged role in the 2009 BDR mutiny – and their close acquaintances have blocked the Shahbagh intersection to press home their demands: releasing innocent BDR members, reinstating jobs of the unfairly accused and ensuring fair trials.

The protest began around 1:30pm Thursday and was planned to last for an hour.

Earlier at a press conference at the Central Shaheed Minar, the protesters announced their demands. Afterwards, they marched from the Shaheed Minar to Shahbagh. There they breached the police barricade and began the road blockade.

The blockade was sparked by the abrupt suspension of trial proceedings at a makeshift court at Dhaka Alia Madrasa field on Thursday morning.

Curiously, the suspension was enforced by a contrastive road blockade called by Bakshibazar locals and madrasa students demanding an end to the field’s use for judicial purposes. The courtroom was also burnt the previous night.

However, families of expelled BDR personnel appear unconvinced about the unexpected turn of events at Bakshibazar, and have rather dubbed the delays in starting trials as a “farcical conspiracy.”

They claimed their lawyers were not informed about the suspension of Thursday morning court proceedings.

The demonstrators expressed their frustration over what they perceive as a lack of justice for the events of the Pilkhana massacre, where dozens of army officers were brutally killed during a mutiny by the BDR personnel in 2009. Many of the dismissed members claim they were unfairly punished or removed without proper evidence linking them to the mutiny.

“We want justice for the innocent, both the victims of the massacre and those dismissed unfairly,” a protester said during the blockade.

On Wednesday, the protesters had warned of blocking the Shahbagh roundabout if their demands were not addressed during the hearing at the Metropolitan Special Tribunal-2 in Dhaka. They carried out the warning after finding no resolution in the tribunal proceedings earlier today.