Army’s role may last a while: General Waker-Uz-Zaman

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman hinted that the time frame for the army’s role in aid of civil administration may be a bit longer than thought of earlier due to practical reasons.

“I do not see a scope of an early withdrawal,” he is learnt to have told an Officer’s Address yesterday, his second meeting with the rank and file within 20 days.

Sources present at the meeting said the chief hinted an early withdrawal of the army may see a deteriorating law-and-order situation and to avert that he urged all officers and jawans to take extra responsibilities.

“Don’t be upset with the extra duties, do not consider it to be a burden,” General Waker told his troops, it is learnt.

He urged cooperation of all irrespective of rank and asked them to be united for the sake of the country.

The Officer’s Address lasted from 10:30am to 12:25pm and was attended by army officers from across the country both physically and virtually as well as army officers posted in different UN missions abroad. 

It was preceded by a ‘darbar’ attended by all army personnel from all the divisions of the Bangladesh Army that began at 9:30am.

The darbar, basically for the jawans, was the first since General Waker took over as Chief of Army Staff on 23 June.

“Usually, an army chief pays visits to all the divisions after taking the charge and holds darbars with jawans. But General Waker couldn’t make the visits as the country went into a turmoil a few weeks after he took over. That’s why he held the darbar attended by jawans both physically and virtually,” a source close to the affair told TBS.

The CAS had an Officer’s Address on 3 August where the chief had said “Bangladesh Army will always stand by the people in their interests and in the state’s needs,” according to an ISPR release at that time.

Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister in less than 48 hours of the army’s decision in the meeting not to fire on citizens.

In Tuesday’s Officer’s Address, there was no direct reference to her resignation but the present situation and the army’s positive roles were discussed.

All the 15-20 officers who spoke on the occasion praised the Chief of Army Staff for his brilliance and wisdom in the transitional period and the army’s pro-people role as a whole to save the people and the country.

As army officers are deputed to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and officers and others to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the role of the two entities came up for discussion in the meeting.

The director general of BGB, a para-military force, explained their role in July-August and said they did not use helicopters and heavy weapons.

One officer raised a point on the police force’s wholesale promotion in this critical time. Issues like attack on army personnel in Gopalganj also came up in the Officer’s Address.