On the 25th of February 74 officers of the Bangladesh Army were massacred in Pilkhana in the heart of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.This atrocity was alleged to be committed by a group within the Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary force of 70,000 men responsible for securing the 4,000 km long border with India and Burma. Khilafah Magazine interviews Mohiuddin Ahmed, official spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh (HTB) to understand the events of that day and the implications for Bangladesh’s security.

1. Can you give your account of what really happened on 25th February, and what is HTB’s position on this tragedy?

I am sure you have followed some news of the massacre.What happened is really brutal and horrific.The killers had with them a hit list of the officers whom they searched out and massacred.They did not stop at that – they mutilated dead bodies of the officers; buried them in mass graves; burnt dead bodies; buried alive some of the officers; and raped, tortured and killed their wives and children including pregnant women. Regarding our position, we made it clear in our leaflet issued on 28 February 2009. If I summarize that for you, we made four important points in that leaflet: Firstly, the so-called mutiny was part of a long-term plot and it was carried out by India and her agents inside and outside the government. Secondly, the aim of the plot was to weaken the defence forces of Bangladesh i.e. the Army and the BDR. Thirdly, the government played a dubious role in the dealing with the so-called mutiny. Finally, only the Khilafah government can strengthen the defence forces and challenge the imperialists.

2. Many believe this incident had an external influence but are not necessarily specifying which country. What makes you so certain this external force was Indian?

We presented an analysis of the event in our leaflet.There are three points that we need to keep in mind:What did it achieve? Who benefits from that? Why at this time?

The answer to the first question can be found in the reality of what has happened – the Bangladesh Rifles has been more or less destroyed especially its chain of command.The Army has lost some of its brilliant officers and it has been dealt a severe blow. It will take a long time to rebuild the Bangladesh Rifles and for the Army to recover. There is only one external force that benefits from all this – India. Firstly weakening the defence forces of Bangladesh has been a long term Indian plan and she has tried to do this on many occasions in the past. Secondly the Bangladesh Rifles protects the Bangladesh border from the Indian border forces (BSF).And the Indians view the Bangladesh Rifles as a problem. One former senior Indian intelligence official B Raman wrote a column in the magazine ‘Outlook’ on 27 February, 2009 where he said the Bangladesh Rifles’ anti-Indian stance is an obstacle to the India-Bangladesh relationship.The Bangladesh Rifles is trained by the Army of Bangladesh because of which it does the job very well to the point that the BSF fear the Bangladesh Rifles.There have been many incidents of clashes between the two forces where the BSF simply fled from the fight.Therefore weakening or even destroying the Bangladesh Rifles leaves the Bangladesh border unprotected from Indian BSF aggression.Thirdly as a Muslim country, the armed forces of Bangladesh are always viewed as a security threat by India.The Bangladesh Rifles massacre has severely harmed the Bangladesh military.

We should also consider the Indian response during and after the incident. BSF sends SMS messages during the rebellion to soldiers in the Bangladesh Rifles assuring them of assistance.The Indian media launches a frenzied attack on Islamic Militants and the Bangladesh opposition parties trying to divert the people’s minds.The Indian Army and air force was kept ready for assisting the Hasina government; not in dealing with the mutiny (the Bangladesh Army is capable of doing that) but rather to save the government in case of any threats to its existence.And now the Indian government is making statements that the Hasina government has their full backing and they will not sit idly by if there are any threats to it arising from events post the mutiny.The Indian magazine ‘Outlook’ reported that Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee said in a closed door meeting of Congress leaders that “… in the current scenario India is ready to provide any help to Bangladesh …I want to send strong warnings to those who are trying to destabilize Sheikh Hasina’s government that if they continue to do this, India will not remain silent, if necessary, India will directly intervene”. In other words the Indian political leadership is prepared for the fallout of the incident. It seems that India wants Sheikh Hasina to reform and restructure Bangladesh Rifles after the 25 February incident.Also, if possible, they want to reform the Bangladesh Army in their favour. As for the timing, at present with the Hasina government in power they found a favourable moment to execute their plan.They found internal forces that will assist them in organizing the event and more importantly their future plans regarding the re-structuring of the Bangladesh Rifles and the Army. Previously when Hasina was in power they had executed some of their plans. Before going to the next question let me just clarify another point here.As you know in recent years Bangladesh has gained strategic importance in terms of regional geo-politics. Right now in the aftermath of the Bangladesh Rifles incident all the imperialist powers are undertaking efforts to advance their interests.The US, the British, and India – all are conspiring for control over the Bangladesh Army.You know about the FBI and the Scotland Yard’s visit here in the name of providing so-called assistance in the investigations. So now the issue for us is to expose the conspiracies of all these imperialist enemies of the Ummah.

3. In your press release you mentioned the involvement of elements within the Bangladesh government in orchestrating this disaster. You must have strong arguments to make such a bold and brave allegation. Can you explain?

From the analysis of events it can be easily understood that the current Awami league government is playing a dubious role from the beginning of the event.Although the government is campaigning that it has successfully dealt with the mutiny, we can present an analogy here in the form of a popular saying in Bangladesh – the operation was successful, but the patient died.The reality is that the mutiny could have been put down within an hour or two, but it was allowed to last for two days. The army officers could have been saved, but they were not.The chain of command in the Bangladesh Rifles has been destroyed and the murderers were allowed to flee.

I am sure by now you are aware of the questions being raised by almost everyone concerned.We raised these questions when every one else thought it was a mutiny due to some legitimate grievances.The questions that we raised are very important. It is in our leaflet and I will not repeat them here.There are many more questions that are being asked now. Our point is that there is a line that needs to be drawn between failure to deal with the plot on the one hand and complicity on the other hand. How many unanswered questions do you need for proving complicity? Let us understand one very important point – those ministers who went to the spot to negotiate with the rebels are well known agents of India.They brought the rebels to meet the PM and no record about these people was noted down whereas we know the tight security procedures that are followed before anyone can get close to the PM’s office, let alone sit down and talk with the PM. Furthermore one of these ministers makes a public statement two days after the event that millions of taka was spent in planning and executing the conspiracy while investigations had not even started.This is nothing but a ploy by the government to put the blame on other than the real culprits.Your readers will be interested to know that the government has so far prevented the minister from being questioned as to his source for that information.

4. It appears the government believes that Islamic militants are responsible. How credible is this?

It is a part of the government’s ploy to save the conspirators. Nobody believes it. It was an attempt to divert people’s attention and it miserably failed as people were not fooled at all.The politicians, intellectuals, media, and business leaders have rejected this idea openly and publicly.The minister who made the statement has now backed off from his statement due to the public backlash.We all know the crusaders and their agents are carrying out a vicious campaign against Islam throughout the world and they look for any opportunity to advance that goal.

5. Many of your members have been arrested and charged. Can you explain why they have been arrested and your views of the charges?

31 of our members and activists have been arrested for distributing leaflets. Cases have been filed against them on the charge of attempting to cause a riot; attempting to create mutiny in the army, and attempting to harm relationships with friendly states.These charges are really untenable.There is nothing in the leaflet to justify it.We simply invited the people to resist the Indian plot to destroy our army and the Bangladesh Rifles and take the government to task for its mysterious role.The government undertook this oppressive action exactly because of this i.e. we exposed the government and their masters.They are afraid of our ideology i.e. Islam, which commands the proclamation of the truth openly and bravely without an iota of fear even if the whole people are afraid and silent.

6. Hizb ut-Tahrir have launched a campaign on this issue. What do you want to achieve from your campaign and what is your action plan?

HT is a global political party working for re-establishment of the Khilafah.All our activities are aimed at achieving that goal.We undertake the work of culturing the Muslims with the Islamic thoughts and opinions.We also expose the conspiracies of the colonialist states against the Muslims.As well as this we take the rulers in the Muslim countries to task for their failure, negligence and subservience to the imperialist enemies. This is what we aim to achieve from this campaign i.e. expose the imperialist enemies and their agents so that the people reject them and at the same time create public opinion about the need for the Khilafah.

As for our action plan we are continuing with various programmes making the people aware of the conspiracy.We are doing political activities such as demonstrations, posters, etc.We are contacting the people, for example the teachers, doctors, imams and the mass people through interactions in public places such as mosques, markets, schools, and so on. We are holding discussions with influential people in the society.As part of that we organized a roundtable discussion on the 18th of March which was attended by many key figures in the country’s intellectual and political arena.We have also produced a small booklet presenting our analysis of the event and how the Khilafah will challenge the imperialists.

7. What is your message for the Muslims living in the UK?

In general, we need to understand that our life and provisions are in the hand of Allah (SWT) to whom we will all return. We have no control over this.We will take with us nothing from this world except our deeds.Thus our daily lives must not make us forget our Islamic obligations – the most important of which are the obligation to remove these corrupt rulers and the colonial powers from the Islamic lands and to re-establish the Khilafah.

support the work for Khilafah as you can. I can make some suggestions. Firstly, those of you who have relatives in Bangladesh and make frequent visits here – inform them about the Khilafah and the work of HTB especially the politicians, intellectuals and the media. Second, win over the Bangladeshi media in the UK so that they publish news of the work for Khilafah.This will make the community aware of the Khilafah, who can then convey the concept to their friends and families in Bangladesh.Third, talk to the politicians belonging to Bangladeshi based political parties in the UK; they make visits to Bangladesh and have influence. Fourth, many politicians and influential people such as writers, journalists, columnists and ulama from Bangladesh visit the UK. Contact them, talk to them and convince them about the Khilafah as the only viable alternative for the multitude of problems facing Bangladesh.

Specifically on the Bangladesh Rifles massacre you need to realize the grave dangers of this conspiracy. I have no words to describe it. It is one of the biggest conspiracies in the country’s history. It is not the issue of one party nor should the issue be looked at from partisan interests. It is a plot against the Bangladesh army – the defenders of Islam and Muslims, the defenders of the future Khilafah.You should protest against this and all imperialist conspiracies against the Muslims of Bangladesh.You should apply pressure upon the government of Bangladesh through organizing protest actions such as demonstrating outside the Bangladesh embassy, demanding that the government explains its dubious role in the so-called mutiny; refrains from its ploy to save the conspirators and also releases our members and supporters. The media should be contacted, information about the conspiracy should be passed to them and they should be motivated to publish news about it so that the community is aware of the plot.