Hasina in Dhaka. (AP)

Dhaka, March 19 (Reuters): Bangladesh will hold court martials for paramilitary border guards involved in a mutiny last month in which more than 80 people, mostly senior commanders, were killed, the country’s law minister said today.

Nearly 200 members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) have been detained for the revolt over wages that began on February 25 at the headquarters of the paramilitary force in Dhaka and then spread to a dozen other towns.

“We have decided to try the mutineers under court martial, as the BDR is commanded and managed by the army regulations,” Shafique Ahmed, minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs said. “It will ensure justice,” he said.

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.

Hasina has promised to get to the bottom of the mutiny — initially believed to have been caused by disputes over pay and command structure — and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The BDR, responsible mainly for guarding the country's borders, is traditionally commanded by officers drawn from the army. Most of the victims of the mutiny were army officers and their families.