A group of retired officers of the armed forces on Sunday called upon the government to withdraw the armed forces from the streets and send them back to barracks in the current difficult times.
The former officials made the call at a press conference at the auditorium of the Retired Armed Forces Officers Welfare Association (RAOWA) in the capital's Mahakhali on Sunday. Former army chief Gen (retd) Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan presented the keynote paper.
At the beginning, six senior retired defence officers including Brig Gen (retd) Md Sakhawat Hossain, and Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam addressed the event. Former army chief Lt Gen (retd) Nuruddin Khan was also present.
Maj Gen M Azizur Rahman, Maj Gen Abu Kaiser Fazlul Kabir, Maj Gen Jamil D Ahsan, Bir Protik, Maj Gen Rezzaqul Haider, Maj Gen Muhammad Abdul Matin, Maj Gen Mujahid Uddin, Maj Gen Abul Kalam Humayun Kabir, Maj Gen Mahbubul Alam, Maj Gen Ruhul Amin, Maj Gen ATM Shahidul Islam, among 48 other retired officers were present.
Former army chief Iqbal Karim said the patriotic military 'must not accept any responsibility for the current situation.'
"We appeared here because we are deeply concerned, troubled, and saddened by all the egregious killings, tortures, disappearances, and mass arrests that have been tormenting Bangladesh over the past three weeks," he said.
Iqbal Karim said, "Witnessing all these as guardians, we simply cannot absolve ourselves from the responsibilities associated with these untimely demises of hundreds of children, teens, and young brave souls."
He noted, "The Bangladeshi armed forces have never faced off with the masses or trained their guns at the chests of their fellow citizens."
The former army chief said Bangladesh's armed forces have worked tirelessly and made many sacrifices towards establishing global peace over the last three decades. "But that respect, status, and pride are being questioned today," he said.
"Our border is unprotected at the moment. BGB members have been withdrawn in significant numbers from the border belt to quell the student movement. Not surprisingly the border is now open to parties who wish to exploit the internal turmoil the country is going through."
"Time is ripe to immediately take the soldiers to barracks to prepare themselves for any eventuality as the time taken to transition from internal security mode to operational mode takes quite some time.
On the same note, we also urge the government to undertake political initiatives aiming at resolving the ongoing crisis. Do not destroy the good standing of our armed forces by keeping them engaged in a disgraceful campaign," he said.
He further urged for an investigation of all the killings, injuries, shootings, attacks, vandalisms, abductions, arrests, and acts of violence that have to be carried out by the United Nations under its full authority.
Iqbal Karim, who served as the chief of army staff during Awami League government from 2012 to 2015, while reading out the statement said that those who are responsible for pushing the people of this country to a state of such extreme misery will have to be brought to justice.
"Societal peace, order, and trust have to be restored by bringing in transparency, accountability, and justice and at the same time by ensuring punishment to those responsible for the current situation. If the policymakers of the country had not lost their sanity, soul, and conscience then this unprecedented atrocity that the state has been unleashing for the past three weeks on its own citizens would have never taken place," he said.
All the unprovoked attacks and counter-attacks instigated by the goons in power resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of life-threatening and life-damaging injuries, he said in his written statement.
