Comments on the so-called BDR interrogation audio tapes

From the interrogation of Jawans reported in the audiotape the only thing that one can accuse against some politicians was that they were contacted by the Jawans with their grievances against the Army officers. Even if we are to assume that the tape is authentic and the statements of the jawans are true, nowhere is there a claim that those politicians contacted had approved a blueprint for the killing of officers. I failed to hear such in the tape.

We are told that there was a long list of grievances including alleged corruption with the dal-bhat program and many other promotion related issues where the Jawans felt that they were not fairly treated by the officers. From the TV interviews of some retired officers it also came out quite clear that the use of 'tui' rather than 'tumi' was also the norm rather than exceptions against the jawans. I was told by some friends here just last weekend about corruption of late Maj. Gen. Shaqil, whose wife used to visit Houston, TX. So, there may be some truth to those allegations. And Allah knows best. But no matter how bad those charges were, there is absolutely no justification for killing anyone, not even Shaqil's wife. It is cold-blooded murder!

It is not difficult to understand that some BDR reps met and spoke with some politicians to air their grievances, who themselves might not have liked heavy-handed treatment of theirs following 1/11. The human nature is to interact with people who had their share of bad experience. I remember following Saqa's grab of my parental properties, how often some other victims of land-grab would write and call me to share their sad stories and how I could assist them.

Sympathy does not necessarily translate into condoning a crime. So, while the politicians were sympathetic to the Jawans on their grievances, they may not have known at all about the criminal intent of the few masterminds that had decided to kill officers if their issues were not solved before the Darbar Hall meeting on the fateful morning of 2/25. That is why they were well prepared with all their criminal plans.

Was there a foreign hand involved? From the reports submitted, we don't know at this time as much we don't know if the CIA was involved in the killing of Sk. Mujib. We also don't know if Gen. Zia himself was involved with Dalim-Rashid-Faruq-Huda gang, something that is accused of him by some historians. That is the unfortunate reality of our time with many such conspiracies, even with the 9/11! These are not too thorough. Before any investigation, within minutes the Bush Administration declared that OBL was behind, and all subsequent investigations appeared to establish that hypothesis. Ignored were all other theories of how the 9/11 episode was an inside job to justify neocons’ war against the Muslim world where the twin towers were brought down not as a result of planes hitting the buildings but because of a “planned implosion.” Do most Americans agree with the government version? How about the conspiracy theory? I am at least glad to see that official investigation reports on the BDR carnage did not establish views expressed by some government ministers who were too keen on establishing a connection with religious extremists. Similarly, we shall probably never know if India/Pakistan and/or Ershad were involved in the killing of Gen. Zia, and subsequently Manjur. I am told by a retd. Brigadier who was close to Manjur that the latter had nothing to do with the killing of Zia, and that the assassination was done by two hot-headed FF officers Moti and Mahbub, who did not like how Zia was allowing more and more control to the repatriated and Pakistan-minded officers and politicians. So instead of bringing Zia to the cantonment they simply killed him. Many people suffer from temporary insanity and do things that they later themselves cannot justify!

While many conspiracy theorists would like to discover conspiracy - local and/or foreign - with everything, proving such assertions are quite often very difficult. It is all that easy to finger point either India or Pakistan with the BDR massacre. But proving involvement is quite difficult without hard evidences - the smoking guns. Many big players also take a long term approach in matters of strategy realization thus making it difficult to establish a causal relationship. Hopefully one day, when the cloud is gone we shall be able to see the horizon better!

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