A total of forty-eight retired high ranking army officers held a press conference on Sunday morning urging the government to withdraw the military from the streets immediately.

They attributed the ongoing political unrest to deep-seated economic, social, and cultural issues and sought a “political solution” for this, without inciting violence over what they term “innocent students and common people.”

The press conference took place at RAOWA Club in Dhaka. General (retd) Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from 2012 to 2015, read a prepared statement.

"We are here today because we are deeply concerned, troubled, and saddened by the severe killings, torture, disappearances, and mass arrests that have plagued Bangladesh over the past three weeks," Bhuiyan explained, outlining the reasons for their urgent gathering.

Former Chief of Army Staff General (retd) Nuruddin Ahmed also called for the army to return to the barracks, noting that its involvement in the killing of unarmed civilians has damaged its image.

Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan remarked that using the army against the people has caused significant reputational harm. "I urge you not to repeat this," he said, advocating for a peaceful resolution without resorting to force.

Brig Gen (retd) M. Sakhawat Hossain expressed his deep sorrow over the events that resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people. "They are our children, our students, and we failed to protect them," he said, unable to hold back his tears.

Here is the full statement read by General (Retd) Iqbal Karim Bhuiyah

Today 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. Witnessing all these as guardians, we simply cannot absolve ourselves from the responsibilities associated with the untimely demise of hundreds of children, teens and young brave souls. Hence, our conscience forced us to appear before the nation today. We pray to Allah for the souls of all the martyrs of this glorious anti-discrimination movement.

Our liberation war of 1971 had pledged to abolish all forms of discrimination, division, and oppression. However the opposite has turned out to be the case today. All those ills have inundated every stage and aspects of our civic life. People in the margin, the majority of the population, can no longer bear the brunt of the country's dire economic condition and bad governance. In order to rectify this situation people no longer fear to sacrifice their lives. Those who are responsible for pushing 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 on those responsible for the current situation.

If the policy makers 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 had taken place. 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. Victims of these attacks are denied access to treatment, even the emergency ones. Besides, protesters are being vilified as terrorists, getting picked up from their home, flat, or mess en masse by the law enforcing agencies aided by the ruling party functionaries using a method known as block-raid. Thousands of innocent youths, both boys and girls, either in hiding or getting arrested in falsely implicated charges.

No individual with minimum sanity and conscience can tolerate such a war-like situation in this country. We cannot wage a war on each other. We cannot allow our beloved country, its capital city, other cities and towns, and villages to turn into battlegrounds. Therefore, today we take the stand and unequivocally commit that we won't allow this to happen, Inshallah. Along with the members of all the classes and professions, collectively we will put every effort to restore peace in this country.

People have witnessed how the quota reform movement began and nothing will get ever erased from their collective memory. The first party, the students, were peacefully organizing and advancing their movement. From the beginning, in the face of intense provocations these youths showed patience, remained undeterred, and most importantly were respectful to the law of the land.

On the other hand, the second party, the instigators on purpose repeatedly provoked the protesting students by letting loose the ruling party hooligans and organized forces such as police, RAB, Ansar, and BGB on them. This second party used helicopters and surveillance drones overhead and gun mounted APCs on the streets and utilized every excuse to shoot at indiscriminately to kill or fatally injure the innocent youths protesting for a just cause. Do you want us to believe that the people of this country will forget all that you did to their children, to their shattered dreams so soon?

In the face of an unbreakable mass uprising when the thugs were in retreat there entered the Bangladesh military into the scene. Using them as cover the members of the aforementioned much hated second party continued with their assaults and attacks on the protesting students and general public. In no way our armed forces should come forward to rescue those who have created this current situation. Never in the past our armed forces aimed their guns at fellow citizens or treated them as a belligerent force.

Today we the retired officers of the armed forces, strongly opposing the scheme that has been hatched here to militarize an issue that has always been absolutely political. Over many decades we have been witnessing events in Myanmar and know how such senseless acts of militarization have brought a resourceful nation to its knees. The military rulers there are now facing trails at the ICC for genocide and crimes they had committed against humanity.

We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately, since the ongoing political turmoil has bearing on various long unaddressed economic, social and cultural issues. At the moment our border is unprotected. 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.

In this situation investigation of all the killings, injuries, shootings, attacks, vandalisms, abductions, arrests, and acts of violence have to be carried out by the United Nations under its full authority,

We all have deep rooted respect and affection for our fellow citizens. Each one of the service members of our armed forces is committed to sacrifice his/her highest to protect and uphold the nation's independence and sovereignty. In this critical juncture of our nation's history we wish to urge our colleagues at the armed forces to carry out their duties following the highest standard of respect, dignity, and ethics.

For the last three decades the reputation and good standing that our armed forces have achieved in maintaining global peace and security through relentless hard work and sacrifice is now at stake. You have to take side with your people in ensuring the highest standard of universal human rights for them. We cannot allow ourselves to be mere bystanders of an impending catastrophe befalling on our beloved motherland.

Surly, Allah will assist us in carrying out this solemn duty of upholding the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh today, Inshallah He will certainly be able to protect and safeguard our nation

Please do pray for each other.

Allah Hafez.

—-