With an aching heart, we pay rich tribute to the martyrs of the August 21 grisly carnage. We also pray for eternal peace of the departed souls of the martyrs.
The barbaric grenade attack was carried out on August 21 in 2004 under the direct patronisation of the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat alliance government during an anti-terrorism rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital Dhaka as per a blueprint to kill Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s daughter Sheikh Hasina.
Awami League dedicated leaders and workers saved Sheikh Hasina, the then leader of the opposition in parliament from the series of grenade attacks by forming a human shield. Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister of Bangladesh survived the attack due to immense blessings of the Almighty but some 24 leaders and workers including president of Mahila Awami League Ivy Rahman embraced martyrdom.
More than 500 leaders and activists, journalists and security personnel were injured. The vested quarter, who assassinated Bangabandhu in 1975, had also tried to destroy Awami League by killing its President Sheikh Hasina with grenades on an anti-terrorism rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on this day.
As a nation, we cannot ever forget the heinous attempt of killing Sheikh Mujib’s daughter Sheikh Hasina through grenade attacks. These bloodbaths are also touted as the ugliest chapters of the nation’s history.
The pro-liberation forces must
devote themselves for the betterment of
the country and thwart anti-state
conspiracies
unitedly
It is clear to all now that military dictator Ziaur Rahman was the mastermind behind the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members in 1975 as the BNP admits it by chanting the slogan. On the other hand, Bangladesh Nationalist Party fugitive Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, elder son of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia was the mastermind behind the August 21 grenade attack.
There was no such incident in the history of mankind, where state sponsored attack was launched to kill the leader of the opposition in parliament.
August 21 grenade attack was a part of conspiracy that started before August 15, 1975 for killing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to reverse the country’s independence. The anti-liberation and communal forces along with Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami get active across the country in every August. This year the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat clique’s mayhem and arson terrorism have already made people upset and afraid ahead of the country’s next general elections.
We all have to remain alert against the anti-liberation forces. The pro-liberation forces must devote themselves for the betterment of the country and thwart anti-state conspiracies unitedly.