AUG 21 GRENADE ATTACK : Khaleda, son involved: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Friday said that there was no doubt that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her eldest son Tarique Rahman were behind the attack on Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 that killed 24 people.
‘Khaleda and her son were involved in the August 21 grenade attack as Zia [Khaleda’s husband and BNP founder late president Ziaur Rahman] was involved in the August 15 [in 1975] massacre…There is no doubt about that,’ Hasina said.
Hasina, also the Awami League president, made the allegation while addressing a discussion after paying tributes to the victims of the August 21 grenade attack at a the makeshift memorial erected on Bangabandhu Avenue.
The prime minister made the statement when two cases for the grenade attack were pending with a Speedy Trial Tribunal. Tarique, also BNP senior vice-chairman, is being tried in the cases in his absence as he has been staying in London since 2008.
Twenty four Awami League leaders and activists were killed and scores were injured in the grenade attack on a party rally on Bangbandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. Hasinaa, the then opposition leader, escaped the attack but the explosions caused her hearing damage.
The prime minister said that the BNP wanted to eliminate the Awami League and destroy the democratic practice in the country.
She said that actions taken by the BNP government following the grenade attack made it clear that they were behind the attack as they immediately destroyed the evidence instead of giving treatment to the people injured.
She criticised the United States and Canada for giving shelter to some killers of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members. ‘This is unfortunate that these countries are giving shelter to the killers and we have to listen to their lectures on human rights,’ she said.
She said that the government was trying to bring the killers back.
Hasina said that her government would ensure punishment of those involved in the August 21 grenade attack, countrywide bomb blasts in 2005 and vandalism and atrocities in 2013 and 2015.
She said that the government would not spare anybody irrespective of party affiliation if they were found involved in anarchy or killing.
The prime minister first placed a floral wreath at the memorial and then flanked by leaders of Awami League, she, as president of the party, placed another wreath. Cabinet members, prime minister’s advisors, senior leaders of the Awami League and its allies and family members of the victims and those injured in the incident were present.
A silence for one minute was observed in memory of those killed in the grenade attack while a prayer was also offered seeking peace of the departed souls. After speaking on the occasion, Hasina met the victim families.
The Awami League and its associate bodies observed the day through various programmes across the country.

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