The presidential reference will be made under article 105 of the constitution. It would be for the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to guide the government on how to hold the trials, New Age newspaper reported Thursday.

The US-based Human Rights Watch has said that since the BDR troopers were recruited and operated under civilian law, they cannot be tried under military law or by a military court.

Should the men be tried under the Bangladesh Rifles Order? But several offences including rebellion, insubordination, murder, rape and looting committed during the rebellion are not covered by the order.

At the same time, the Penal Code does not deal with some of the offences such as rebellion.