Gruesome Aug 21 attack anniv today

The 18th anniversary of the gruesome grenade attack on an Awami League (AL) anti-terrorism rally in the capital on August 21, 2004, today (Sunday). Awami League will observe  the day with heavy hearts.

On this day in 2004 during the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, this unprecedented grenade attack was carried out on a peaceful anti-terror rally of the Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.

The party leaders and activists formed a human shield to protect the then opposition leader and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

That day, Sheikh Hasina miraculously survived the infernal grenade attack. Seeing that the main target of the assassins Sheikh Hasina survived, 12 rounds were shot at her car. However, the targeted bullets could not penetrate the bulletproof vehicle carrying Bangabandhu's daughter. Immediately after the attack, Sheikh Hasina was cordoned off in a car and taken to her then residence Sudha Sadan in Dhanmondi.

But, 24 people including the then Women Affairs Secretary of Awami League and wife of late President Zillur Rahman were killed and over 500 others injured in the attack and many of them became crippled for life.

Those others killed in the barbaric grenade attack included the then opposition leader's personal security guard Lance Corporal (retd) Mahbubur Rashid, Abul Kalam Azad, Rezina Begum, Nasir Uddin Sardar, Atique Sarkar, Abdul Kuddus Patwari, Aminul Islam Moazzem, Belal Hossain, Mamun Mridha, Ratan Shikdar, Liton Munshi, Hasina Mamtaz Reena, Sufia Begum, Rafiqul Islam (Ada Chacha), Mostaque Ahmed Sentu, Md Hanif, Abul Kashem, Zahed Ali, Momen Ali, M Shamsuddin and Ishaque Miah.

Prominent among those who suffered serious splinter injuries included Sheikh Hasina, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader, Advocate Sahara Khatun, Mohammad Hanif, Prof Abu Sayeed, and AFM Bahauddin Nasim.

Fear and terror engulfed the entire capital after the grenade attack. Condemnation and grief of this massacre spread across the country and abroad.

After the attack, when the Awami League leaders and activists were busy trying to save themselves and others, the police charged the protest march fiercely with batons and tear shells. At the same time, all traces of the carnage were destroyed.

The BNP-Jamaat coalition government even staged the 'Joj Mia' drama to cover up the incident with state sponsorship and direct support.

Marking the anniversary, the ruling AL, its front and associate bodies and its left-leaning allies, and other political parties, social-cultural and professional organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes across the country, maintaining health guidelines in wake of the Covid-19 situation.

A discussion will be held at 10:30 am to recall the victims of the dreadful August 21 grenade attacks. Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over it and will deliver an important speech.

Prior to that at 10:00 am, wreath will be placed at the altar build for the 21 August martyrs in front of the Awami League central office at Bangabandhu Avenue.

General Secretary of Awami League and Minister of Road Transport Obaidul Quader called upon the leaders, workers, supporters and well-wishers of Awami League and its allies and fraternal organizations at all levels to observe the Grenade Attack Day on August 21 with due dignity along with the countrymen following the health rules.

Petition filed to CJ for hearing 

Chief legal officer of the state Attorney General (AG) AM Amin Uddin informed the matter to BSS on Saturday.

The AG said that the August 21 grenade attack case is a very important case for the state.

Evil attempts were made to paralyze and destroy the country's democratic system through this heinous grenade attack incident, he remarked.

"Therefore, we have applied to the chief justice for the hearing of the case on a priority basis," he added.

The chief justice will fix a bench for the hearing of this case, the attorney general said.

The heinous attack was carried out at an anti-terrorism rally of the Awami League on August 21 in 2004, aimed at killing the front-ranking leaders including its President and then Opposition Leader Sheikh Hasina to eliminate the party leadership.

A total of 24 Awami League leaders and workers including the then Mohila Awami League president and wife of late president Zillur Rahman, Ivy Rahman, were killed and 500 others were injured.

PM Sheikh Hasina and the front-ranking leaders escaped the carnage narrowly.

During the BNP-Jamaat regime, the investigators were trying to divert the probe in the wrong direction to save the real culprits.

Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 announced the judgment in the August 21 grenade attack case on October 10 in 2018.

The August 21 grenade attack case is now pending at the High Court for a hearing of the death reference and appeals following the verdict of the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1.

According to the judgment of the court, a total of 19 persons including Former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, former deputy minister for education Abdus Salam Pintu and two top officials of the intelligence agency at that time were sentenced to death by the judicial court.

Of them, 14 are members of the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji-B).

Besides, some 19 persons, including BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, were sentenced to life imprisonment and 11 others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment with fines.