15th anniversary of Pilkhana carnage today

The 15th anniversary of the carnage at the Pilkhana BDR (BGB) headquarters in the capital is being observed today (February 25). A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed on this day in 2009.

“Marking the day, floral wreaths will be placed at the graves of the slain army officers at the military graveyard in the capital's Banani around 9am,” a press release said on Saturday (February 24).

On this fateful day, several hundred Bangladesh Rifles (now BGB) men staged an armed revolt at the Darbar Hall of the force's Pilkhana headquarters during the three-day "BDR Week", killing 74 people, including 57 army officials .

The 'mutiny' ended the following day (February 26) with the surrender of firearms, ammunition and grenades through a negotiation between the then government and the rebels.

A total of 58 cases including one for murder and looting and the rest for mutiny were filed in connection with the incident.

Some 152 people were sentenced to death and 423 others to different jail terms in the killing case. Besides, 277 accused were acquitted.

Among the convicts, 262 mutineers were sentenced to different jail terms starting from three months to 19 years and 161 people, including late BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and local Awami League leader Torab Ali, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

On the other hand, 5,926 BDR personnel were sentenced to different jail terms ranging from four months to seven years in the 57 mutiny cases.