S M Mizanur Rahman :
People will painfully remember the tragedy of August 21 as on this day in 2004 grenade attack was launched on an anti-terrorism rally organized by the Awami League in city’s Bangabandhu Avenue killing 24 people and injuring over 500.
The grenade assault was carried out to kill the then leader of the opposition in parliament and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the rule of BNP-Jamaat alliance government aiming to eliminate the AL leadership.
Marking the day, the ruling AL, its associate bodies, its left-leaning allies and other political parties, socio-cultural and professional organisations have chalked out different programmes across the country. President Abdul Hamid yesterday paid rich tributes to the memory of those killed in the barbaric grenade attack on the Awami League rally.
“I express my deep respect to the memory of those killed in the August 21 grenade attack and convey my heartfelt sympathies to the injured,” he said in a message on the eve of the day.
Terming the August 21 attack as a black chapter in our national life and mourning day, the President said 24 leaders and activists of AL, including Mahila AL President Ivy Rahman, were killed in the heinous attack.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leaders of AL, its associate and likeminded bodies and other political parties, socio-cultural-professional organisations will pay glowing tributes to the martyrs by placing wreaths at a temporary memorial erected in front of party central office at Bangabandhu Avenue on Sunday.
Sheikh Hasina and other front ranking leaders of the party escaped the carnage narrowly. But 24 other leaders and workers, including late president Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman, were killed and over 500 others suffered splinter injuries, many of them became crippled for life.
Many wondered and still wonder how could it happen? It’s a month that brings to mind the memories of a past bloodbath. It was a long dark plot to assassinate Sheikh Hasina.
AL leaders, including the then mayor of Dhaka City Corporation late Mohammad Hanif, saved their party president forming a human shield.
Though Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack, she lost her hearing ability due to the impact of the repeated grenade blasts near the truck-dais of the huge public rally.
After the grisly carnage the then BNP-led-18 party alliance government had made a Joj Miah drama to divert the incident.
Talking to journalists, Public Prosecutor Advocate Mosharraf Hossain Kazol dealing with the case said the nation is going to see the long expected verdict in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases in three months time as the prosecution said the trial is now at the final stage.
“Verdict in the trial in August 21 grenade attack case will be delivered with the completion of cross-examinations of two investigative officers (IOs) and it requires two to three months,” he said.
BSS adds; Nineteen charge-sheeted accused in the August 21 grenade attack cases are still on the run while the nation is set to observe the 12th anniversary of the barbaric carnage carried out during the rule of BNP-Jamaat alliance government in 2004.
“A total of 52 people were accused in separate charge sheets in two cases – one for murder and another under explosives acts,” Public Prosecutor Advocate Mosharraf Hossain Kazol dealing with the cases said, adding that 19 of accused were shown fugitives.
One of the key accused in the cases, former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed was hanged to death in a case of crime against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971 while eight are on the bail and remaining others are now in different jails, he noted.
The list of the 19 fugitives has been forwarded to the Interpol seeking help to capture them as they are believed to be hiding in different countries.
Of the 19 fugitive accused, Tarique Rahman is now staying in London while Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad is living in Bangkok, owner of Hanif Enterprise Mohammad Hanif is in Kolkata, Maj Gen (retd) ATM Amin in America, Lt Col (retd) Saiful Islam Joarder in Canada, Babu alias Ratul Babu in India, Anisul Morsalin and his brother Mohibul Muttakin in an Indian jail and Maulana Tajul Islam in South Africa, intelligence sources said.
Militant leaders Shafikur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai, Maulana Abu Bakar, Iqbal, Khalilur Rahman, Jahangir Alam alias Badar, Maulana Liton alias Zobair alias Delwar, the then deputy commissioner (east) and deputy commissioner (south) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Md Obaidur Rahman and Khan Syed Hasan respectively are also staying abroad, the sources said adding that most of them are believed to be in Pakistan.
But there is no trace of another accused Harris Chowdhury. Of the fugitives, Maulana Tajuddin and Babu are brothers of the detained former deputy minister of the BNP government Abdus Salam Pintu, who is also a charge sheeted accused in the August 21 grenade attack case.
During the last caretaker government’s tenure, the first two charge sheets in the August 21 cases – one for murder and another under explosive act – were placed before the court on July 11, 2008 accusing 22 people, including former deputy minister of BNP-Jamaat alliance government Abdus Salam Pintu and 21 Huji leaders and workers.
Later on July 3 in 2012, 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 30 accused, the number of charge accused in the cases rose to 52.
During the BNP-Jamaat regime, the investigators were trying to divert the probe to a wrong direction 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 visible attempt to frustrate the case by the then BNP-led regime prompted the subsequent interim government to order a fresh investigation into the case.
Of the 52 charge-sheeted accused, former BNP’s state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkatul Jihad chief Mufti Abdul Hannan are now in jails.
Former inspector General of Police (IGPs) Ashraful Huda, Shahudul Haque and Khoda Baksh Chowdhury and three former investigation officers of the cases, former SP Ruhul Amin of CID, former ASPs of CID Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid are on the bail.
Meanwhile, AL presidium member and Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim on Saturday said trial of the August 21 carnage case would certainly be completed during the tenure of this government.
“The trial in Bangabandhu Murder Case and the prolonged trial of the war criminals were held due to firmness of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The trial of the August 21 carnage case would surely be completed soon,” he told journalists after a 14-party alliance meeting.
