Awami League Central Working Committee member SM Kamal Hossain, who received severe injuries in the gruesome grenade attacks on August 21, 2004, said he wants to see the trial of perpetrators of the grisly carnage before his death.
“If I can see the final trial of the perpetrators, I will die in peace,” he told BSS on Sunday as the nation is set to observe today the 13th anniversary of the gruesome attack that claimed 24 lives of Awami League leaders and workers and wounded over 500 people.Kamal Hossain said whenever he recalls the memory of the ghastly attack, he get frightened.
“August 21 is one of the black days in the history of Bangalee nation. The attack was carried out to kill the then opposing leader, Awami League President and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and to ruin the Awami League,” he added.
The August 21 attack survivor, who is living with 10 to 12 grenade splinters inside his body, said the blue print of the attack was perpetrated from Hawa Bhaban, alternative power house of BNP, and that is why the then BNP government staged the “Joj Miah drama” in the name of trial.
“BNP also damaged all evidences through the then CID officers to divert the trial to a different direction,” he added.
Another survivor of the attack, Liton Mollah, also central working committee member of Awami Swechchhasebak League, demanded completion of the trial of the August 21 grenade attacks quickly.
He said he has been living with injuries in different parts of his body and losing his hearing gradually.
He is meeting the expenditure of his household with financial assistance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his relatives. He has to spend most of his money for treatment.”I have been suffering from physical ailments and severe pain along with financial insolvency. Life becomes miserable,” he added.
He also demanded to the Prime Minister to make a permanent way of earnings for those who lost their workability.
Ratna Aktar Rubi, who received serious injuries in the attack, said one of her kidneys was damaged in the attack and the kidney was removed from her body through surgery within one month of the incident.
Besides, she is suffering from skin diseases and other ailments. She has to spend around Taka 30,000 for treatment every month. Most of the financial assistance she received has been spent for treatment.
Another injured, Rasheda Aktar Ruma, a resident of Mazed Sardar Road in Old Dhaka, said she was staying in backside of the truck in which Sheikh Hasina was delivering speech on August 21.
She said she has been suffering from cancer. “My right leg has rotten and the left leg also started rotting. Some 18 teeth were broken,” she added.
She also said she wants to see the trial of the perpetrators before her death.
