Renowned photographer and journalist Shahidul Alam has said the fascist Awami League government orchestrated the BDR mutiny to serve the purpose of its individuals and the party.

“This incident was orchestrated to harm our country and give an opportunity to the neighbouring country,” he said at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Shahidul said, “The mutiny occurred only to weaken our strong forces like the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). Innocent members of the BDR [now the Border Guard Bangladesh] were sacrificed for the Hasina-led government.”

At the press conference, family members of the then BDR jawans, who are in jail now, demanded their release through the legal process by cancelling the previous verdicts in the Pilkhana carnage case.

Alleging that the then Hasina government made the BDR jawans victims to please her master India, they also demanded exemplary punishment for the real planners, conspirators, and other perpetrators of the carnage.

On 25 and 26 February 2009, 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in a mutiny at the then BDR headquarters in Pilkhana.