Power play behind Bangladesh's mutiny

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The standard line being disseminated in public about the two-day running battle between the BDR and the Bangladesh army in urban centers of Dhaka, and in Teknaf, Cox's Bazaar, Naikhongchari and Sylhet, is that the rebels were demanding better pay, clearance to participate in lucrative United Nations peacekeeping missions and a change in the command and control structure of the force.

Though these are by no means petty concerns, the scale of the mutiny and the brutality of its perpetrators were far more vicious than rationally required to press mere economic demands. If pay scales were the principal bone of contention, BDR cadres could easily have resorted to the standard trade union tactic of going missing without leave or refusing to take orders from their superiors. That they could take senior army officers hostage in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka and massacre so many of them suggests strongly that the forces behind the upheaval had their eyes set on a much bigger prize - political power.

The first indication that the BDR revolt was politically driven comes from its timing. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had barely settled into her post, taking oath of office on January 6 after her Awami League party swept the general elections which had been long delayed due to military intervention.

For nearly two years before her victory, the Bangladeshi military had taken virtual control of the country in the name of a civilian caretaker government. If the BDR had pent up frustrations owing to economic reasons, why did they not attempt a mutiny when the Bangladesh army was in charge? That they chose to attack just after civilian rule under a secular and liberal leader was restored is one sign of the elaborate plot behind their actions.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KC03Df04.html

The want of a raise didn't sit with me, either. Thanks for posting.