At a standstill:
The city's sports arena saw a new sort of standstill yesterday due to BDR soldiers' mutiny at its headquarters. It led to the postponement of many sports events across the city and its suburbs.
The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) suspended all three matches of the Premier Division Cricket League halfway through as well as the First Division Cricket League games. However, the committee has decided to restart the suspended matches today from the point of stops.
Given the volatile political and military environment that we live in, it will be either a challenge or a cakewalk for CCDM and other sports organisations to run the show today. Panic and uncertainty was widespread in the morning, which played a key role in extending the fears from the rebellion reach upto distant places like BKSP, Savar and Fatullah in Narayanganj.
Teams hastily packed their bags and rushed back to their nests, after team officials and on-field umpires deemed it necessary to shelve the day's proceedings.
A young cricketer, who is playing for Indira Road in the First Division Cricket League yesterday found himself distressed when his game stopped midway. More misery was added when he found himself stranded at Mohammadpur; from where he had to walk to his Dhanmondi residence, owing to the unavailability of transports due to extensive fright among the populace.
The Bangladesh Golf Federation also postponed a scheduled reception for the golfers, who emerged winners in the All India Amateur Golf Championship in Kolkata and City Bank-Dhaka Bank Bangladesh Open, citing unavoidable circumstances.
Only two matches of the KFC Pizza Hut 5th Mini Handball Tournament (Girls) were held with Moghbazar Ispahani Girls School and Banani Biddya Niketan beating Viqarunnisa School and College and Summer Field respectively.
However, the Bangladesh Handball Federation in a statement later said that the tournament would remain suspended until further notice.
Football matches, however, were uninterrupted.
Postponements were not limited to sporting activities only due to the fiasco, as the much awaited media conference to announce the title sponsor for next month's Pakistan tour at Heritage Restaurant was also dropped. Owner of the restaurant Rizwan Bin Farouq expressed grief over the abrupt cancellation and said the meeting will be will rescheduled at a later date.
There is a supposed lesson which sports bodies in the country can learn from yesterday's occurrence, which is: you never know if a simple game of cricket, golf, handball or even a press conference can take place as planned, even when it is 30 odd kilometres away from the place of the event.
Mutiny, bloodshed at BDR HQ:
* 6 killed * 23 bullet-hit * govt offers amnesty BDR chief among many feared killed * fate of over 100 army officials unknown
BDR men wait at the gate of their Pilkhana headquarters in the capital for a negotiation team yesterday afternoon. Awami League lawmaker from Gaibandha-2 constituency Mahbub Ara Gini braves fear and heads towards the gate carrying a white flag, a symbol of peace. Photo: SK Enamul Haq
A bloody mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers sent Dhaka into a war footing yesterday as the paramilitaries fired several thousand shots from machineguns, killing at least two army officers, one non-commissioned BDR officer, and three civilians in BDR Pilkhana Headquarters.
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The mutinous BDR soldiers started turning in their arms to police in presence of Home Minister Sahara Khatun around 2:30am after about two hours of negotiation with the minister.
Soon after the surrender of arms began, heavy gunshots were heard from inside the BDR headquarters.
A little earlier, the mutineers were heard announcing on megaphone that if attacked, the soldiers would fight back. Half an hour later, Sahara was heard over megaphone urging the soldiers to turn in arms.
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