Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Saturday paid homage to the February 25-26 Pilkhana carnage victims, including 57 army officials, who were killed by BDR members in 2009.

A BNP delegation, led by its standing committee member and former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, went to Banani Military Graveyard in the morning and placed wreaths at the graves of the slain army officers, reports news agency UNB.

They also offered fateha there followed by a munajat seeking salvation of the departed souls of those killed in the incident.

Retired army officers Ruhul Alam Chowdhury, Fazle Elahi Akbar and M Hanif were the other BNP delegation members.

Talking to reporters, Mahbub said, the Pilkhana incident is a stigmatised chapter of the country’s history. 

He said a proper investigation into the mass killing at Pilkhana is yet to be carried out. “We expected the government would make public the reports of the two investigation committees formed to look into the incident. But, the government is yet to do that.”

Mahbub said their party, if returns to power, will place a white paper on the incident.

On this day in 2009, several hundred BDR, now renamed BGB, members took up arms against their superiors at the Pilkhana Darbar Hall and killed 74 people, including then BDR chief Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and 56 other army officers.