No scope to reinstate 8,796 dismissed BDR members: Salahuddin

There is no scope to reinstate 8,796 former members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), now Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), who were dismissed through various legal and administrative processes following the 2009 Pilkhana killings, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told parliament today (10 September).

He said the members were punished after due legal procedures and based on evidence, and that no innocent BDR member had been dismissed.

The minister made the remarks in response to a question from Gaibandha-5 MP Md Abdul Wares during the question-and-answer session of parliament. Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal chaired the sitting.

According to the minister, following the mutiny and killings at Pilkhana on 25 and 26 February 2009, action was taken against BDR personnel through departmental special courts and administrative proceedings under the laws and regulations applicable to the force at the time.

A total of 6,286 BDR members were dismissed from service after being sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, while another 2,510 were compulsorily retired with pension benefits.

Together, 8,796 members lost their jobs, he said.

Salahuddin said the punishments were imposed after the accused were found guilty through due legal proceedings and on the basis of evidence.

"Therefore, there is no scope to reinstate the dismissed members," he said.

The home minister said 850 of the dismissed BDR members were accused in a murder case, while another 834 faced an explosives case.

The lower court has already sentenced the accused in the murder case to different terms of imprisonment, and the case is now pending before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, he said.

The explosives case against 834 former BDR members is still being tried by the lower court.

Salahuddin said those among the dismissed members who remain accused in the murder and explosives cases also cannot be reinstated while judicial proceedings against them are ongoing.