Army tanks rolled into Dhaka Thursday afternoon and took positionsoutside the headquarters of Bangladesh's border force following a callby Prime Minister Sheik Hasina for rebels inside to lay down theirweapons. The government and the army are in a second day of attemptingto quell a mutiny by the paramilitary soldiers which spread outside thecapital. Although there has been no official death toll some officialssay they believe more than 50 people have died in the violence whichbegan Wednesday morning.
As the mutiny of Bangladesh borderguards re-ignited with fresh reports of uprisings outside the capital,the country's prime minister, Sheik Hasina, took to the airwaves with astern appeal to the mutineers not to take a "suicidal" route.
Ina nationally broadcast address, the prime minister promised to lookinto the grievances of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles. Thus, theyshould surrender their weapons and return to their barracks. If theydid not, Sheik Hasina warned, she would be forced to take "toughaction" in the interest of the nation.
The mutiny began earlyWednesday at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles in Dhaka. Theclash left dead a number of their Army officer supervisors, apparentlyslain by the rebel soldiers.
The paramilitary border force hastens of thousands of guards, who are posted at 64 camps throughoutBangladesh. The rebels say they resent having Army officers alwaysappointed as their commanders and want better pay in wake of risingfood prices.
Reports of guards firing their weapons along theborder with India prompted fresh concern here. India and Bangladeshshare a four-thousand kilometer long border that is porous and poorlydemarcated in some places.
India's home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, says the the country's Border Security Force - the BSF - will remain vigilant.
"Idon't think that the BDR-Army dispute in Bangladesh will spill overinto our border. Our BSF is on the alert and there is no threat on theborder," said Chidambaram.
Mobile phone operators in Bangladeshsay they were ordered Thursday by the government to switch off serviceexcept in some areas of the capital. That is apparently an attempt tokeep rebelling guard units around the country from communicating witheach other.