‘Anti-India sentiment surged in Army after BDR massacre’

Staff Reporter  :

Following the 2009 BDR massacre, anti-India and anti–Awami League sentiment among army officers increased sharply.

A deep division emerged between senior and junior officers. Professional officers were sidelined, while loyal officers were elevated, and the Army was involved in various national projects, leading to institutional corruption. Sheikh Hasina believed that a corrupt army would be safer for her rule.

These statements were made by former Army Chief General (retd.) Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan in his testimony on Sunday before International Crimes Tribunal-1, in crimes against humanity case involving enforced disappearances and killings against Ziaul Ahsan.

In his testimony, he stated that during Sheikh Hasina’s first term in office (1996–2001), she learned from her vulnerabilities and gradually established absolute dominance over the state and administration. To achieve this, she amended the Constitution to abolish the caretaker government system.

Through the International Crimes Tribunal, many political leaders were tried and given death sentences, and the Constitution was amended to include the death penalty as punishment for violating the Constitution.

During this period, she appointed her relative Tareq Siddique as Security Adviser, through whom she sought to control the Army.

He stated that Tareq Siddique soon established himself as a “super chief” above the service chiefs.

He brought various institutions—such as DGFI, NSI, RAB, NTMC, Ansar, and BGB—under his control. Through this, four distinct power circles emerged.

The first circle operated through DGFI, NSI, RAB, and NTMC. Through this network, political opponents were suppressed, and incidents such as enforced disappearances took place.

The second circle was the deep state. This was run through MSPM, DGFI, NSI, and similar bodies.

Through this mechanism, all major policy decisions regarding the armed forces were made, often in direct conflict with decisions of the service chiefs.

The third circle was the procurement network. It included the PSO, AFD, DGFI, and the chiefs of the three services. Through this circle, influence was exerted over various procurement processes.

The fourth circle was the military engineering network. As Tareq Siddique was an officer from the Engineering Corps, he formed a separate circle with senior officers of the Engineering Corps.

Through them, he began extending influence over various national development projects. This became a major source of unethical income.

Regarding RAB, Iqbal Karim stated that even before becoming Army Chief, he—like other members of the armed forces—was aware of RAB’s illegal and extrajudicial activities.

After becoming Army Chief, he summoned RAB’s then ADG, Colonel Mujib (later promoted to Lieutenant General), to his office and instructed him to stop these “crossfire” incidents and to control Ziaul Ahsan. Mujib assured him that such incidents would not occur.

For a brief period, such incidents stopped appearing in the media. However, he soon realized that they were continuing but were being suppressed.

In response, he instructed Director of Military Intelligence Brigadier General Jaglul and Commanding Army Officer Brigadier General Fazal to speak with Ziaul Ahsan.

Brigadier General Fazal later reported that he did not receive any satisfactory commitment from Ziaul. He stated that discussions produced no improvement. Ziaul had installed weapons, bodyguards, and CCTV cameras at his residence.

He was instructed to remove these and comply with military cantonment regulations. Subsequently, under the protection of Tareq Siddique and his course-mate Mahbub, Ziaul continued to disobey orders.

Due to multiple negative reports against two officers, posting orders were issued to return them from RAB to the Army for disciplinary action. However, RAB refused to release them back to the Army.

Iqbal Karim further stated that he declared Ziaul prohibited from entering the cantonment and assigned Logistics Commander Major General Mizan to enforce the order. Later, Mizan fell out of favor with Tareq Siddique for not informing him of the decision.

One day, he received a call from Major General Mia Zainul Abedin, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, who informed him that the Prime Minister had ordered the withdrawal of the ban imposed on Ziaul. Iqbal Karim refused.

Zainul then asked whether declaring an officer “undesirable” was a special measure. Iqbal replied that it was indeed a special measure and warned that disobeying orders would invite disciplinary action.

Two days later, to avoid confrontation, he himself withdrew the restriction.