Execute verdict quickly

Relatives of a number of army officers killed during the Pilkhana BDR carnage yesterday expressed satisfaction over the High Court judgment.

Talking to The Daily Star after the verdict, they said souls of the martyred army officials and others would get peace if the verdict was executed immediately.

The HC confirmed death penalty for 139 out of 152 accused who were previously awarded capital punishment by a lower court for their involvement in the massacre during the BDR mutiny in 2009.

Seventy-four people, including 57 high-and mid-ranking army officers, were killed in the mutiny on February 25-26.

Elahi Boksh, father-in-law of victim Maj Mosharrof, said, “We want immediate execution of the verdict. We want exemplary punishment of the perpetrators so that no one in the future dares to get involved in such brutal killings.” 

“My son-in-law took shelter inside a school of BDR [Now Border Guard Bangladesh] and requested the mutineers not to kill him. But the butchers didn't pay heed and killed him,” he said while talking to The Daily Star correspondents at his home in the capital's East Shewrapara.

“The elder son of Mosharrof, a class-VI student, still asks of his father. He is yet to fully recover from the shock that he had after seeing his father's body,” Elahi said in a voice choked with emotion.

Mosharrof's younger son, who was born a few weeks after the killing of his father, often wants to know about him when he sees old photographs of his father, mentioned Elahi.

“We want no individual to escape through the loopholes in the law. And at the same time, we also want no innocent to get punished,” added Elahi.

Syed Md Ismail Parvez, younger brother of another victim Maj Idris Iqbal, said they were happy with the verdict.

“Now, we want immediate execution of the verdict. Because justice delayed is justice denied,” he told this newspaper over telephone.

The body of Idris and that of nine others were dug out of a mass grave in Pilkhana on February 28, 2009, two days after the mutiny had ended.

Maj Syed Md Yousuf Iqbal, elder brother of Idris, somehow, managed to escape on that day. 

A relative of another martyred major said he did not want to comment on the verdict now as the HC verdict was not the final one and it could be challenged at the Supreme Court's Appellate Division.

"The incident happened eight years ago. The HC delivered the verdict yesterday. We will have to now wait patiently for the execution of the verdict. Once that is done, we will get some relief," he said, requesting anonymity.

Relatives of two BDR men acquitted of death sentences by the HC expressed their gratitude to the court, saying that they got justice.

Rehana Akhtar's husband Nayek Subedar Ali Akbar, who was awarded the death sentence by the lower court, was acquitted by the HC.

“I am very happy today. For the last eight years, my three children and I led a miserable life. We will be able to sleep soundly tonight,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

For Zinnatul Ferdous, the situation was totally opposite to Rehana's as her father's death sentence was upheld by the HC. Besides, the court also upheld life imprisonment of her two brothers and two uncles in the BDR carnage case.

She claimed that her father Subedar Maj Jakir Jamal had been in the BDR headquarters for several days before the BDR mutiny to have his pension-related documents completed and was not involved in the BDR carnage. 

Zinnatul added that her mother was a nurse at BDR hospital and she was killed on the day of mutiny.