Aug 21 carnage: No doubt about Khaleda, Tarique’s involvement: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with party leaders pay respect to August 21 carnage victims by placing wreaths in front of Awami League Central office at Bangabandhu Avenue on Friday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with party leaders pay respect to August 21 carnage victims by placing wreaths in front of Awami League Central office at Bangabandhu Avenue on Friday.
block

UNB, Dhaka :Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said there is no doubt about the involvement of Khaleda Zia and her son in the August-21 grenade attack that left 21 people killed and several hundred injured.”As Ziaur Rahman was involved in the August-15 killing, Khaleda Zia and her son were involved in the August- 21 grenade attack. There ‘s no doubt about it,” she said.The Prime Minister was speaking at a rally after placing wreaths at the memorial of martyrs of the gruesome August 21 grenade attack at Bangabandhu Avenue, marking 11th anniversary of the gruesome attack.The makeshift memorial was set up in front of the Awami League office where militants lobbed 13 grenades on the Awami League’s peace rally on this day in 2004.Hasina said, with each and every activity of the then BNP-Jamaat government it has been clear that BNP was in a move to kill her and annihilate Awami League. “Today, it’s clear that being in the government their (BNP) every activity proved that they were in an evil move to kill me, the then opposition leader, and vanish the Awami League,” she added.Sheikh Hasina first placed a wreath at the memorial as the Prime Minister and then another as the Awami League President. Cabinet members, PM’s advisers, senior leaders of Awami League and 14-party combine and family members of the martyrs and those injured in the incident were present.A one-minute silence was observed and a special munajat was offered seeking the eternal peace of the departed souls. About the ongoing trial of the August 21 grenade attack, the Prime Minister hoped that the real culprits must be punished. “The criminals must be punished, this trial must be held, or else such incidents will take place continuously,” she said.The Awami League chief said the government will never ever allow any type of injustice. “Whoever that person is, which party that person belongs to, the Awami League government will take appropriate steps,” she firmly said. Hasina mentioned that the criminal activities of the BNP-Jamaat’s 2001-2006 and 2013- 2015 regimes will also be held. “Inshah Allah, the trial of those will be held on Bangladesh’s soil,” she said.She also said, her government, as in the past, will not allow any sort of injustice. “Whoever commits the injustice will be punished,” she added.The Prime Minister mentioned that the execution of the verdicts on the war crimes trials has started. “We’ll remove the stigma from Bangladesh soil by executing all verdicts,” she added. Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam was present on the dais. After the programme, the Prime Minister talked to the injured and relatives of those Awami League leaders killed in the grenade attack.

block