http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90e317c2-0685-11de-ab0f-000077b07658.html

Bangladesh’s new civilian government is to charge 1,000 paramilitary border guards with murder and arson as the administration tries to pacify a military furious at the slaughter of up to 130 senior officers in last week’s Bangladesh Rifles’ mutiny.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the prime minister, has vowed to establish special tribunals to try the mutineers after the weekend discovery of mass graves containing the bodies of at least 60 senior officers and their relatives.

For Sheikh Hasina – who took power two months ago after parliamentary elections ended two years of military rule – the crisis will test already fraught relations with the army, which historically has better ties with the Bangladesh Nationalist party, led by Khaleda Zia.

The authorities were on Sunday scouring drains, ponds, and areas surrounding the Rifles headquarters in search of the bodies of those missing, as a shocked nation was presented with more details of the atrocity.

The senior army officers that command the Rifles, a paramilitary border protection force, had last week poured into their Dhaka headquarters for the annual durbar – a chance for troops to raise grievances with their commanders.

The insurrection by the guards – who are not part of the regular army but are commanded by army officers – was quelled on Thursday, after Sheikh Hasina initially offered an amnesty then later warned she would use force to crush the mutiny.

The extent of the killing has fuelled frenzied speculation that the uprising was far more than just a spontaneous outpouring of long-simmering anger at the Rifles’ low pay, poor working conditions, and high-handed treatment by their officers, as the mutineers had claimed.

Syed Ashraful Islam, a spokesman for Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, said initial investigations indicated the attack was planned and that the mutineers had outside assistance, though he did not elaborate.

General Moeen U. Ahmed, the army chief who has publicly affirmed the military’s loyalty both to the administration and the prime minister, on Sunday spoke to senior officers at the Dhaka cantonment.