Accusing again BNP-Jamaat of launching the August 21 grenade attack on the Awami League rally, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday called upon the opposition to stop the politics of killing and nurturing the terrorists. “The opposition should stop the politics of killing and nurturing the terrorists. There is democracy in Bangladesh and I think they (opposition) should work for maintaining the trend of democracy and advancement of the country,” she said.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing a function on the occasion of handing over savings certificates to the families of the dead and injured persons of the August 21 grenade attack at her official Ganobhaban residence here this afternoon.
Expressing the hope that such heinous crime like the August 21 grenade attack does not reoccur in the country, Sheikh Hasina said: “It is my question to the opposition leader why she tried to kill me and take away so many numbers of life?”
The Prime Minister said the previous BNP-Jamaat government during its five year rule killed thousands of leaders and workers of Awami League across the country and their character is yet to be changed.
The Prime Minister said there was no instance of carrying out such a barbaric attack in broad daylight on an anti-terrorism rally of thousands of people.
“Twenty-two AL leaders and workers including Ivy Rahman, women affairs secretary of the party and wife of former president Zillur Rahman, were killed and hundreds of leaders and workers were injured in the grisly attack,” she said.
The aim of the attack, she said, was to kill her, eliminate Awami League and make the party leaderless.
Sheikh Hasina said the BNP-Jamaat, the son of the opposition leader and her cabinet members were involved in the attack which was proved through investigation. After the attack on that day, she said, police lobbed tear gas and resorted to lathi charge on AL leaders and workers instead of rescuing the dead and the injured persons. “The aim of this was to allow attackers to flee without any hindrance,” she said.
The Prime Minister went on saying that the police and the other law enforcement agencies played a role of silent spectators on that day. “Even they did not take steps to preserve the evidence, no investigation was conducted and there was no attempt to nab the perpetrators,” she said.
She also alleged that even some of the BNP-Jamaat-backed doctors did not attend the injured AL leaders and workers at the hospitals. “But, I took initiatives to rescue the injured and ensure their treatment through sending them to different hospitals,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the country was turned into a safe haven for terrorists and militants from 2001-2006 due to patronization of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government. “BNP-Jamaat means nurturing terrorists as well as patronizing terrorism and militancy,” she said.
In this connection, she mentioned synchronized bomb attacks at 500 places across the country, and the grenade and bomb attacks on Shah AMS Kibria, Ahsanullah Master, Shamim Osman and Suarnjit Sengupta in Sunamganj, Sylhet, Naryanganj and Tongi.
The Prime Minister said that after assumption of office by the present government, she had tried her best to help those who were tortured by the BNP- Jamaat. She also sought doa from the family members of the August 21 grenade attack victims so that she could serve the people and the nation.
Bangabandhu Memorial Trust members Sheikh Kabir Hossain, Sheikh Helaluddin and Nur-e-Alam Liton Chowdhury, AL central leader Faridunnahar Laily, Fazilatunnesa Indira, MP, PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kamal Azad and eminent lawyer Advocate Anisul Huq were present, among others.
Later, the Prime Minister handed over savings certificates and cheques for financial assistance to the family members of the 66 victims of the August 21 grenade attack.
A heart-rending scene was created when the Prime Minister consoled the family members of the August 21 grisly grenade attack.
-With BSS/The Independent input
