Bangladesh says 72 still missing after mutiny

Seventy-two officers were still missing today after a two-day mutiny by Bangladesh’s border guards, as the death toll rose to 76 with the discovery of 10 more bodies in mass graves at the force’s headquarters, the military said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met with political allies at her home to discuss the uprising, with the group issuing a call for national unity.

Ms Hasina, who took office in January, persuaded the guards to surrender on Thursday with promises of an amnesty coupled with threats of military force.

But she said on Friday there would be no amnesty for the killers, and her government gave border guards across the country 24 hours today to return to their posts or report to a local police station.

Army spokesman Brigadier General Mahmud Hossain said at least 33 officers survived the carnage but 72 were still unaccounted for.

“This barbaric incident has caused much anger among the soldiers, which can only be quelled with a fair investigation and trial of the killers,” Brig Gen Hossain told reporters.

The mutineers had hurriedly dumped the bodies of dozens of senior officers into shallow graves and sewers at the headquarters compound in the capital, Dhaka. Among the dead was Major General Shakil Ahmed, the commander of the Bangladesh Rifles border force. Dozens more officers were missing, and workers scoured the compound and nearby areas, including a pond, in an intense search for more victims.

“We think there are more bodies,” said firefighter Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal, adding that 10 bodies were dug up today in two mass graves. They found at least one woman’s body, which they believed was the commander’s wife, he said.

The military postponed funerals for 33 officials until all bodies were found.

“To bury all the deceased with state honours, funeral prayers and burials scheduled for today have been postponed,” the military said in a statement, adding that a new date would be announced later.

The bloodshed has raised new questions about stability in the poor South Asian nation and underlined the fragile relationship between Bangladesh’s civilian leaders and the military, which has stepped in previously to quell what it considered dangerous political instability.

The country only returned to democracy after elections in late December 2008, nearly two years after an army-backed interim administration took over amid street protests demanding electoral reforms.

Ms Hasina has a bitter history with the military. Her father was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader and its first head of state, who was killed in a 1975 military coup along with his wife and three sons.

“It’s a setback for Sheikh Hasina’s new government. It’s now a test for her how she handles the military,” said Ataur Rahman, who teaches political science at Dhaka University.

“This tragic event will force her to divert her attention from consolidating democracy and boosting the economy to tackling the challenges of national security,” he said.

The army chief, General Moeen U. Ahmed, met Ms Hasina late on Friday and pledged his support.

“The military will stand by the government,” Gen Ahmed told reporters.

Following the border guards’ surrender on Thursday, search teams moved into the sprawling Bangladesh Rifles compound that houses the guards and many of their families and found the gruesome evidence of the killings.

One corner of the compound, nestled under the shade of coconut palms, held two mass graves where slain officers had been put into shallow holes and covered with dirt. Firefighters used crowbars to pry off manhole covers and recover more corpses from sewers.

The insurrection erupted from the guards’ long-time frustrations that their pay hasn’t kept pace with soldiers in the army – anger aggravated by the rise in food prices that has accompanied the global economic crisis. They also demanded better living conditions and allowances for their families.

The guards also didn’t like the practice of appointing army officers to head the Bangladesh Rifles and were bitter over being excluded from UN peacekeeping missions, which bring additional pay.