Zeenews Bureau
Dhaka, Feb 25: Acceding to all their demands, the Bangladesh government on Wednesday declared amnesty for all the rebellious Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) men who were engaged in a pitched gun battle with the Army, keeping senior officers hostage in the BDR headquarters.
The government has said in a statement that no punitive action will be taken against the soldiers.
After the agreement was reached at a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and representatives of the Bangladesh Rifles, the official name of the paramilitary border guards, the fighting subsided and the children were able to leave.
''The Prime Minister has announced amnesty for those involved in the trouble. We now hope to lay down our arms and go back to barracks,'' Mohammed Towhid, a spokesman for the mutineers, told reporters after the meeting.
Govt spokesman Jahangir Kabir Nanak confirmed that the guards had been offered an amnesty.
Earlier, rejecting the calls for surrender, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) men demanded that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should personally come to their barracks and address their demands over salary and other benefits.
Their defiance came even as reports are suggesting that many people, including the Bangladesh Rifles Director General have lost their lives since the start of the stand off began at the BDR headquarters early Wednesday.
However, rebel soldiers have refuted the claims.
"It is a lie that he is injured. We did not hurt him at all," a mutinying soldier told private ATN Bangla channel from inside the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana area in the heart of the capital city.
But, the soldier confirmed that the BDR chief had been held hostage inside the complex and that he was safe.
"We took him hostage after we came under attack," he said as reports suggested earlier that the BDR Director General was injured in the fighting.
According to police officials, at least 20 people have been killed in the gun battle while other reports put the figure at 50.
Meanwhile, two Cabinet ministers reached BDR HQ to negotiate with the mutineers. Smoke could be seen coming from the complex, with security forces sealing off the area.
"The Army troops are chalking out plans to enter into the barracks where heavy exchanges of gunshots were still underway," an Army source earlier said but officials inside the BDR Headquarters could not be reached as they kept their phones switched off.
There are also reports of firing taking place in Chittagong and Sylhet.
The volatile situation has forced the government to deploy Army, instead of BDR, at the border. The gunfight prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to call an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
The Bangladeshi Army had called on the BDR troops to "surrender arms and go back to the barracks."
"The honourable Prime Minister will herself talk to you about your demand. Any soldiers who fail to give up arms after this announcement will be prosecuted," the statement added.
How it all started
According to reports tensions have been brewing for sometime within the ranks over pay. Today morning a meeting between the officers and soldiers over salaries and other amenities was scheduled.
Sources said that when the officers came to attend the meeting, soldiers confined them to the room and asked them to meet their demands pertaining to pay and other benefits. Subsequently heavy gun battle broke out between the warring parties.
"It seems to be a mutiny of BDR troops" against their regular Army officers, an armed forces spokesman said.
Officials said that Army was called out to crush the rebellion as witnesses reported movement of military convoys and hovering of Air Force helicopters over the sky of the Pilkhana barracks.
First Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 00:00