Staff Correspondent:

Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman has said that the Pilkhana massacre was the part of an “international conspiracy” to keep the Awami League in power.

“It wasn’t a mutiny; it was rather a planned murder. In the Pilkhana massacre, we lost the nation’s brave sons. Their loss was an attack on the sovereignty of Bangladesh,” he said while speaking at a shadow parliament organised by Debate for Democracy at the FDC in the capital on Saturday.

By killing 57 army officers, the then Awami League government created an atmosphere of anarchy in Bangladesh, he said, adding that many of the masterminds behind the Pilkhana massacre are still at large, and efforts are being made to bring them to justice.

He said that the activists of the Chhatra League and Jubo League, dressed in BDR uniforms, were allegedly involved in the massacre.

Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron, chairman of Debate for Democracy, presided over the event.

Kiron said just two months after the Awami League returned to power under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership for a second term, the Pilkhana massacre occurred. “It remains a dark chapter in our history.”

He said that the massacre was aimed at undermining the country’s sovereignty, not to fulfil any demands. “It was carried out to weaken the army and prevent any strong force like the BDR from existing,” Kiron added.