DHAKA: People from all walks of life paid rich tributes to 74 victims, including 57 army officers, who were brutally killed at Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Pilkhana headquarters on February 25-26, 2009.

BDR was subsequently renamed Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).

Representatives of the President and the Prime Minister, State Minister for Home Affairs, Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air force, Senior Secretary of home ministry and Director Generals of BGB placed floral wreaths at victims` graves at the Banani cemetry.
 
All regions, sectors, institutes and units of BGB offered special prayers, including reciting from The Holy Quran, and arranged Milad Mahfil after the Fazar prayer.
 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on the victims’ families and relatives and handed  cheques to them in the presence of army chief Lieutenant General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan.
 
On February 26, as a part of a two-day long programme to commemorate the tragedy, a special prayer meeting will be held at Bir Uttam Fazlur Rahman Khandaker Auditorium at 4:30pm.
 
The country witnessed its worst ever paramilitary uprising five years ago when Director General Major General Shakil Ahmed and 73 others, 57 of them army officers on deputation to BDR, were massacred in the capital sending shivers down the nation`s spine.
 
The mutiny quickly spread to BDR sector headquarters and regional units across the country but killings were confined to Pilkhana.

BDST: 1820 HRS, FEB 25, 2014