Khaleda wanted to eliminate me: PM

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday alleged that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia had wanted to eliminate her through the grenade attack on Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004 that killed 24 people.
Hasina, also the Awami League president, made the allegation at a discussion after paying tributes to the victims of the August 21 grenade attack at a makeshift memorial erected on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka.
‘The statements she [Khaleda] had made regarding me before August 21 and the role of police during and after the grenade attack proved that she was behind the attack,’ she said.
Hasina, also the then leader of the opposition, escaped the grenade attack but the explosions caused her hearing damage.
She said that before August 21, 2004, the then prime minister Khaleda Zia on several occasions said that Hasina would never become the prime minister or the opposition leader and ‘with this statement she wanted to mean that she would eliminate me.’
Indicating Khaleda’s eldest son Tarique Rahman’s involvement in the grenade attack, Hasina said that he hatched the conspiracy at his father-in-law’s house at Dhanmondi 5 staying there for 8-10 months and returned home on August 21, 2004.
She said that she survived the grenade attack by the grace of Allah but lost many party leaders.
‘I might not have survived if the grenade thrown to the truck on which I just finished my speech had blasted and the party leaders would not have created human wall around me,’ she added.
Recalling the moment of a series of grenade blasts, Hasina said that it seemed a ‘dooms day.’
She said that actions taken by the then BNP government following the grenade attack made it clear that they were definitely behind the attack.
Had the BNP government not involved, police would not have destroyed the evidence immediately after the attack and paved the way for the attackers to flee charging batons on the people who came to rescue the victims, she said.
The prime minister said that police always obstructed any AL programme but surprisingly they allowed the party to hold the rally on August 21, 2004.
‘Police gave us permission to hold rally but no security measure was in place….Police played silent role when the grenade attack was carried out which also proved that the attack was pre-planned,’ she added.
She said that instead of investigation into the grenade attack the BNP government tried to shift the blame on the Awami League for the attack.
‘Who would believe it that we came here [Bangabandhu Avenue] on the day to commit suicide by carrying grenade attack on our own rally,’ she asked.
She sought cooperation from people to eliminate extremism and to materialise the dreams of a developed nation.
The prime minister first placed a floral wreath at the makeshift memorial and then flanked by AL leaders, she placed another.
Cabinet members, prime minister’s advisers, senior leaders of the Awami League and its allies and families of the victims and those injured in the attack were present.
A one minute silence was observed in memory of the people killed in the grenade attack while a prayer was also offered seeking peace of the departed souls. After addressing the programme, Hasina met the victim families.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net