Bangladesh will disband its mutiny-hit paramilitary unit and raise a new force to guard the borders, a top security official said Saturday. A mutiny that began on Feb. 25 at the headquarters of the paramilitary force in Dhaka and then spread to a dozen other towns, killed at least 80 people mostly army officers. The BDR, responsible mainly for guarding Bangladesh's more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) border with India and Myanmar, is traditionally commanded by officers drawn from the army. The revolt, which lasted 33 hours and ended after the rebels laid down their arms, stoked concerns over the stability of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's two-month-old civilian government. “A new border force will be raised soon with disciplined and competent troops, including those not involved in the BDR mutiny,” Brigadier-General Moinul Islam, the new BDR chief told a border security officials at Mymensingh, 150 km (100 miles) north of the capital Dhaka.
