Even after fifteen years of the deadly grenade attacks on the then opposition Awami League rally, most of the injured victims still remain traumatized recalling the horrifying terror incident. They also demand to bring back all the absconding convicted killers and execute the verdict after ending the ongoing trial fast.
Bangladesh Post exclusively talked to several victims marking the 15th anniversary of the 21 August Grenade Attack.
Awami League central sub-committee member Hamida Khanom Moni, who was badly injured and is now leading a tragic paralyzed life said, “When I remember the horrifying scene, I become sick even after so many years.” “I was lying in a pool of blood in front of the party’s headquarter at Bangabandhu Avenue when some grenade splinters hit my whole body. I became senseless few moments later,” she recalled.
“Those who sent me to the hospital in a critical condition, informed me later that due to the grenade blasts, my dresses were torn away from my body and I was lying naked on the road. Seeing me in such situation some pedestrians covered my body with cloth banners,” Moni went on. About her expectation over the possible implementation of the verdict, the female ruling party leader said, “Like all other victims and their family members, I also demand to bring back the 21 August grenade attack mastermind and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and others immediately,” she stressed.
Khursida Baby Hena, a central leader of the ruling party backed Bangladesh Mohila Awami League said, “To avoid hassle, I was preparing to leave the meeting venue immediately after Apa ( Sheikh Hasina) completed her speech. Suddenly I heard terrible sounds of several blasts and people all around me were screaming and crying. Then I discovered myself in Dhaka Medical College Hospital with critical injuries.”
“Still today I cannot move without the help of others,” she narrated expressing her deepest anger against the attackers. Responding to a question, she said, “It is totally unacceptable that even after fifteen years of the deadly terror attacks, the trial is yet to end.” “I don’t know how many more years will be required to implement the verdict after the end of the trial,” she said with grief and dissatisfaction over the lengthy trial .
“But I shall wait till my death to see the killers hanged,” she vowed. The grenade attack on the AL rally killed 24 leaders and workers of the party, including Ivy Rahman, wife of the late president Zillur Rahman, and injured 300 others, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was then the leader of the Opposition. Sheikh Hasina and other front-ranking leaders escaped death narrowly.
The attack was allegedly carried out in collaboration with the banned Islamist outfit, Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami, influential leaders of the BNP and Jamaat and some officials in the home ministry, police, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
During the last caretaker government’s tenure, the first two charge-sheets in the August 21 cases—one for murder and another under the Explosives Act—were placed before the court on July 11, 2008, accusing 22 people, including former deputy minister of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government, Abdus Salam Pintu, and 21 HuJi leaders and workers. On July 3, 2012, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted two separate supplementary charge-sheets in the cases against 30 people after a fresh investigation into the matter. With the addition of 30, the number of accused in the cases rose to 52.
A Dhaka court on October 10, 2018, passed death sentence to 19 people including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and life imprisonment to another 19 including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman on August 21, 2004 grenade attack charge. Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal pronounced the judgment ordering sentence of Tarique to life term along with 18 others and also sentenced 19 people including Lutfozzaman Babar and ex-deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and several former army intelligence officers to death penalty. During the BNP-Jamaat regime, investigators were trying to divert the probe to save the real culprits. Media reports on the cooked-up story of Joj Mia were brought to public attention by the then CID officials to derail the investigation. The attempt to frustrate the case by then BNP-led regime prompted the subsequent interim government to order a fresh investigation into the case.