The Prime Minister, Shiekh Hasina, on Wednesday called upon the people to remain vigilant against the conspiracies of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
“You should think twice before voting to power those who tried to destroy the Opposition by using grenades in broad daylight. You must ponder for a moment whether the country will remain secure in their hands,” Hasina said.
The Prime Minister alleged that if the BNP-Jamaat alliance came to power, the country would become a militant state. So, the people must remain alert against them.
Hasina was addressing a rally, organised by the Bangladesh Awami League, at Bangabandhu Avenue in the city. It was held to mark the ninth anniversary of the grenade attack on an Awami League meeting on August 21, 2004. On this day nine years back, 24 AL leaders and activists, including former Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, were killed and over 200 others injured, when the then Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina was addressing the rally.
The Prime Minister termed the regime of the BNP-Jamaat alliance as a period of terrorism and extremism. She said the BNP-Jamaat alliance would again establish a reign of terrorism in the country, if elected to power.
“We don’t want to witness such bloody incidents any more,” she added.
Hasina accused Opposition leaders of masterminding the August 21 grenade attack. She said investigations into the case had been completed and trial proceedings were on.
The Premier alleged that Tarique Rahman, son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, and some BNP lawmakers were responsible for the grenade attack. Hasina claimed that some BNP leaders in Parliament, ahead of the grenade attack, had threatened her that she would meet the same fate as her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The AL does not believe in the politics of revenge; it believes in weeding out terrorism and extremism from the country, she said.
Hasina also claimed that law enforcers did not even try to save the helpless AL leaders and activists during the grenade attack; instead, they helped the attackers flee. The police only started firing teargas shells when AL workers were trying to rescue the wounded, she added.
The Prime Minister also alleged that the BNP-Jamaat government had destroyed all evidence of the grenade attack, as well as unexploded grenades. They made attempts to save the perpetrators of the grenade attack, much like their attempts to save the killers of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman, she said.
Hasina mentioned that the Awami League and the Grand Alliance government always worked for the overall development of the country. “We’ve tried our best, and the people are now reaping the benefits,” she said.
Earlier, Hasina paid tribute to the August 21 victims by placing wreaths at a temporary altar on the spot. Other party leaders did the same.
A special munajat was offered, seeking divine blessings for the souls of those killed in the August 21 grenade attack. Later, the Prime Minister distributed cheques to provide financial assistance to the bereaved families.
Meanwhile, the BNP-led-18 party alliance government implicated Joj Miah, a petty criminal, in the cases in 2005 and the then CID obtained his “confessional statement”.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted two separate supplementary charge sheets in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases-one for murder and another under explosive act against 30 people on July 3, 2011 after a fresh investigation into the matter.
With them, the number of accused in the cases stands at 52, as CID earlier on July 11, 2008 indicted 22 people including ex- deputy minister of the BNP Abdus Salam Pintu and chief of the banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) Mufti Abdul Hannan.
Of the accused, former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar, ex-deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkatul Jihad chief Mufti Abdul Hannan are in jails.
Former inspector generals of police (IGPs) Ashraful Huda, Shahudul Haque , Khoda Baksh Chowdhury ex-SP Ruhul Amin of CID, former ASPs of CID Atiqur Rahman, and Abdur Rashid are on the bail.
According to the charge-sheet, Huji leaders met Tarique Rahman a few days before the August 21, 2004 grenade attack and got the go-ahead to stage the blasts.
Courtesy of The Independent
