Sixteen years ago, in the broad daylight of August 21, Islamist militants, patronised by the then government led by BNP, launched an atrocious grenade attack on a rally of the erstwhile opposition Awami League at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka.
The barbaric onslaught that left 24 dead and more than 300 injured was carried out in accordance with a plan hatched by some high ranking persons of the then BNP-led government who allegedly conspired to annihilate their political rivals, including their prime target Sheikh Hasina.
The incident took place when Sheikh Hasina was addressing a rally protesting the Sylhet blasts with a call “to end the rule of the government that inspires bomb attacks.” Sheikh Hasina called for national unity at the rally and urged everyone to raise their voice against growing militancy and terrorism.
All the perpetrators of August 21 grenade
attack must get the punishment they deserve
The irony was that the anti-militancy protesters themselves became victims of the country’s most gruesome militant attack masterminded by then BNP-Jamaat government. However, Sheikh Hasina survived the ghastly attack narrowly as supporters and leaders protected her by forming a human shield around her.
No ambulance was allowed to take the injured persons to hospital after the attack. Police did not take any action to arrest the perpetrators who fled in a waiting ambulance. Rather, they were found busy erasing the evidences. A few days later, a drama started as they arrested Joj Miah, an innocent poor man hailing from a remote village, in connection with the gruesome grenade attacks.
It is perturbing to note that eighteen of the 49 convicts in the August 21 grenade attack cases are still at large and police have been able to know the whereabouts of only eight of them. We hope fugitive convicts in the August 21 grenade attack cases, who are hiding abroad, will be brought back home in no time to execute the verdict against them. We expect the government will devise concrete plans to ensure strict penalty for the perpetrators as it did in terms of bringing war criminals to justice. All the perpetrators of August 21 grenade attack must get the punishment they deserve.
