Bangladesh Army’s General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 55th Infantry Brigade in Jessore authorised the opening of fire on residents and Awami League activists of Gopalganj district on July 16, even as the names of two brigadiers, a lieutenant colonel and two majors of the same unit have surfaced for their alleged involvement in the shootings that killed at least four persons.
Unofficial reports indicate that the death toll in yesterday’s firing by soldiers, which was in sharp contrast to the Army’s insipid approach to a consistent downturn in the country’s law and order situation, could be in double digits.
Neither Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman nor Bangladesh’s interim government Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus have expressed any regret over the killings in Gopalganj.
Inquiries by Northeast News reveal that 55th Infantry Brigade GOC Major General J M Imdadul Islam (BA-4288, 26 BMA LC) issued the clearance to open fire, but it is not known whether the top brass was kept in the decisional loop to shoot the agitators who had blocked key roads in Gopalganj, an Awami League stronghold.
Bangladesh security agency sources disclosed that besides the GOC, Brigadier General Mohammad Mizanur Rahman (BA-5594, 37 BMA LC) gave direct orders to subordinate officers such as Lieutenant Colonel Mabrur Hassan, the local unit Commanding Officer on the ground, Major Ahsanul Huq and Major Shahidullah to open fire even as clashes between National Citizens’ Party (NCP) functionaries and Awami League supporters and cadres erupted over the “long march” to Gopalganj.
Videos surfaced on social media yesterday showing that an officer issued crude verbal orders to his troops to open fire with the AK-47 rifles.
This unidentified officer was heard barking orders, directing the soldiers to “stand up and shoot directly” at the crowd. The soldiers were seen not hesitating, taking careful aim before firing several rounds into the crowd assembled at some distance.
Video evidence also showed that an injured Dipta Saha, the Gopalganj youth who was dragged on a road by at least six to seven soldiers before he was killed, had his trouser pulled down to check whether he was circumcised or not.
At least one NCP activist was seen approaching Saha – surrounded by the soldiers – and assaulting him before one of the armed troopers used his boots to throttle the youth.
An unusual element of the Army’s behaviour was allowing some of the top NCP functionaries, including Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, Nahid Islam and Akhtar Hossain into the belly of an armoured personnel carrier (APC), suggesting a clear link between the Army and the NCP and the former’s anxiety to help and assist those who wanted to escape.
The Army’s firing on unarmed people may also have had clearance from at least one political quarter, especially in the light of video and photographic evidence of the presence of Youth and Sports Affairs and Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan and Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury in a police control room where others on a committee on security should also have been present.
