LOYAL soldiers moved swiftly yesterday to guard President Abdur Rahman Biswas of Bangladesh after he sacked the army chief. But eyewitnesses said troops in some provincial barracks were showing ominous signs of unrest.
State run television, in the hands of troops loyal to the government, announced clemency late yesterday for soldiers rebelling in support of the sacked army chief.
Several thousand soldiers were said to be approaching Dhaka from various points around the country, military sources said. The television's clemency announcement was the first official word that the troops moving toward Dhaka were in revolt.
Troops in tanks and armoured vehicles circled the presidential palace after President Biswas accused the army chief, Lieut Gen Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim, of trying to stage a revolt against his authority and fired him.
The troops were apparently loyal to the President and were guarding him against any possible attacks by followers of Lieut Gen Nasim, eyewitnesses said.
Several hours after Mr Biswas acted he appeared to be in control and the capital Dhaka, home to nine million people, was calm.
But in the northern town of Bogra, the situation seemed tense with troops moving restlessly outside their barracks, local journalists said. "It looks as if they are readying for a major move," one reporter told Reuter.
Unusual troop movements were also noticed in the northern town of Mymensingh and in the port city of Chittagong, local residents said.
In Dhaka, however, people were walking on the streets, although traffic thinned out quickly after Lieut Gen Nasim's sacking was announced by Mr Biswas in a speech to this nation, which nestles between Burma and India.
Mr Biswas dismissed Lieut Gen Nasim as chief of staff after the army leader refused to send two senior officers into early retirement.
The two officers were alleged to have held talks with political leaders in the run up to next month's elections.
"The nation cannot accept such a breach of military discipline, so I had to act," Mr Biswas said on national television. He then accused Lieut Gen Nasim, a hero of Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971, of organising troops to march on Dhaka. "This amounted to a revolt," he said.
The head of Bangladesh's caretaker government, Mr Muhammad Habibur Rahman, in a televised address, called on the armed forces to avoid bloodshed after they took over the state television and radio stations and their tanks had surrounded the presidential palace.
All of the armed forces in the country which has seen nearly 20 coups or attempted coups since independence in 1971 were on top alert.