Bangladesh mutiny threatens to spread across the country

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian (UK)

Mark Tran and agencies

Prime minister appeals for calm and warns of harsh action against protesting troops

Thursday 26 February 2009 10.04 GMT

Bangladesh today warned of harsh action against mutinous troops while appealing for calm after violent protests by border guards threatened to spread across the country.

"The prime minister has urged all people to remain calm and not to indulge in violence," said Mohiuddin Khan Alaamgir, an adviser to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, whose government took office only last month.

Shootings were reported at several guard posts hours after officials announced that a mutiny of guards that started in the capital, Dhaka, had ended. Mutineers fired shots at the commanding officer's residence at a border guard post in the southern town of Tekhnaf, forcing him to flee.

Violence was reported in Chittagong and Naikhongchari in the south, Sylhet in the north-east, and Rajshahi and Naogaon in the north-west. In Chittagong, dozens of mutineers blocked a road and forced traffic to a halt, according to a government official. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the new round of violence.

The mutiny began yesterday at the border guards agency headquarters in Dhaka, but the guards agreed to surrender after the government said it would grant them amnesty and discuss their grievances.

=snip=

The guards are nursing long-held grievances over pay, which has not kept pace with that of the army's amid rising food prices.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/26/bangladesh-mutiny

[dipsydoodle]

1. Tanks moving in now

Latest reports from Dhaka speak of at least 10 tanks moving towards the border guards' headquarters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7911936.stm

[Turborama]

2. Another report on developments: "Bangladesh mutiny spreads beyond the capital"

Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent, in Delhi

A mutiny by Bangladeshi border guards in the capital Dhaka has spread to other towns, threatening to plunge the entire country into chaos two months after emergency rule was lifted.

As Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister, warned the mutineers that her Government would take tough action unless they surrendered their weapons immediately and army tanks closed in on the guards' headquarters, local television stations reported rebellions in 12 of the 64 border districts where the 42,000-strong Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is stationed.

At a border guard post in the southern town of Tekhnaf, guards fired shots at the commanding officer's residence early this morning, forcing him to flee, according to Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, a police official.

Similar scenes were reported from the northeastern district of Moulivibazar, where the local police chief said: "They are firing indiscriminately… Their commanding officer told me that he has fled the camp."

A witness in Sylhet district, also in the northeast, said: “Fighting is raging outside the BDR camp, with troops coming on the street holding up guns and shooting."

More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5806375.ece

[dipsydoodle]

3. Mutiny over - apparently

Bangladeshi border guards have ended their mutiny, surrendered their weapons and freed their hostages, reports say.

A government spokesman, speaking from inside the compound in the capital, Dhaka, where the troops had been holding out, said the crisis was over.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7912392.stm

[Joanne98]

4. Gunfire in Dhaka mutiny camp stops, tanks in position

Source: Reuters


DHAKA (Reuters) - Gunfire erupted for the second day at a paramilitary camp in the Bangladesh capital on Thursday, police said, but subsided and stopped after the prime minister appealed for mutineers to return to their barracks.

It was not clear, however, if Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border troops who had mutinied over pay had moved off the streets of towns elsewhere in the country.

At least six government tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers were in position around the BDR headquarters in Dhaka, where violence on Wednesday killed nearly 50 people.

"Lay down your guns immediately and go back to barracks. Do not force me to take tough actions or push my patience beyond tolerable limits," Hasina warned restive BDR troops in a national broadcast Thursday afternoon.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE51O8EX20090226