- DHAKA, Aug 20, 2020
The 16th anniversary of the gruesome grenade
attack on an Awami League (AL) anti-terrorism rally in the capital on August
21 in 2004 will be observed tomorrow with heavy hearts.
The gruesome grenade attack was carried out at an anti-terrorism rally of
Awami League (AL) on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on August 21 in 2004
aiming to bankrupt the party leadership during the BNP-Jamaat alliance
government.
With the grace of the almighty, the then opposition leader and incumbent
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other front ranking leaders of AL narrowly
escaped the carnage.
But, 24 people including the then Women Affairs secretary of Awami League
and wife of late Bangladesh president Zillur Rahman were killed and over 500
others injured in the attack and many of them became crippled for life.
Those others killed in the barbaric grenade attack included the then
opposition leader’s personal security guard Lance Corporal (retd) Mahbubur
Rashid, Abul Kalam Azad, Rezina Begum, Nasir Uddin Sardar, Atique Sarkar,
Abdul Kuddus Patwari, Aminul Islam Moazzem, Belal Hossain, Mamun Mridha,
Ratan Shikdar, Liton Munshi, Hasina Mamtaz Reena, Sufia Begum, Rafiqul Islam
(Ada Chacha), Mostaque Ahmed Sentu, Md Hanif, Abul Kashem, Zahed Ali, Momen
Ali, M Shamsuddin and Ishaque Miah.
Prominent among those suffered serious splinter injuries included Sheikh
Hasina, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader,
Advocate Sahara Khatun, Mohammad Hanif, Prof Abu Sayeed, and AFM Bahauddin
Nasim.
The nation’s long wait seeking justice of the brutal grenade attack that
killed 24 people and wounded nearly 500 finally ended as a special court
pronounced the verdict of a case filed over the attack on October 10, 2018.
The court awarded death sentence to 19 people including former junior home
minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and life imprisonment to 19 including ex-premier
Khaleda Zia’s fugitive son Tarique Rahman in connection with the grenade
attack.
With the verdict pronounced by Dhaka’s 1st Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge
Shahed Nur Uddin, the nation was freed from stigma of committing most
shocking crime in the political history.
Later, the lower court on November 27, 2018, sent a 37,385-page case
document including the judgement to the High Court for further proceedings.
The High Court on January 13, 2019, accepted appeals filed by the convicts
in two cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack for hearing.
Two separate cases, one for murder and another under Explosives Substances
Act were filed on August 22, 2004, and the police on June 9, 2008 submitted
the charge sheet. The court on September 29, 2008, framed charges in the
case.
Investigation Officer and also Additional Deputy Inspector General of
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police on July 2, 2011, submitted
a supplementary charge sheet before the court and the court on March 18,
2012, framed charges afresh after taking the new charge sheet into
cognizance.
Fifty two people were held accused in the case while prosecution suggested
an influential quarter of the then BNP regime including party’s senior vice-
chairman Tarique Rahman masterminded its shocking plot engaging militant
outfit HuJI and subsequently made desperate efforts to protect the
assailants.
Three of the accused top HuJI leader Mufty Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul
Bipul and then Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed,
however, were by now executed after trial in other cases.
A total of 31 accused including two former ministers faced the trial in
person while 18 including Tarique Rahman were tried in absentia as they are
believed to be staying abroad.
Tarique, now in London, and 17 others including several intelligence
officials were earlier declared “absconding” as they were on the run to evade
justice.
Eight suspects including three former police chiefs were on bail as the
trial was underway while the court on September 18, 2018, scrapped their bail
and ordered their confinement in jail with due facilities they deserved under
law.
The death penalty convicts are: Lutfuzzaman Babar, Salam Pintu, Mawlana
Tajuddin, intelligence officials Major General (retd) Rezzakul Haider
Chowdhury and Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, transport operator Md Hanif,
militants Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Shawkat
Osman, Mohibullah, Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Abu
Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh, Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal.
Other than Rahman, the political figures who were handed down life
imprisonments are – ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s the then political adviser Haris
Chowdhury and former BNP lawmaker Qazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad.
The others to serve the life term prison are – militants Shahadat Ullah
alias Jewel, Abdur Rouf, Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Hafez Yahia, Abu Bokor,
Ariful Islam, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir
Alam Badar, Mohammad Iqbal, Liton, Shafikur Rahman, Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed
Babu.
They all were fined Taka 50,000 each in the case lodged under the
Explosive Substances Act.
The court also sentenced Lutfuzzaman Babar, Abdus Salam Pintu, Mowlana
Tajuddin, Major General (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, Brigadier General
Abdur Rahim, Md Hanif, Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul
Malek, Mowlana Shawkat Osman, Mohibullah, Mowalana Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam
Azad, Md Jahangir Alam, Hafez Mowlana Abu Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin
Uddin Sheikh, Md Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal to 20-year imprisonment and fined
Taka 50,000 each in the case lodged under the Explosive Substances Act.
In the same case, the court sentenced Tarique Rahman, Haris Chowdhury, Qazi
Shah Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Kaikobad, Mufti Shafikur Rahman, Mufti Abdul
Hai, Shahadat Ullah, Mowlana Abdur Rouf, Mowlana Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan,
Hafez Mowlana Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam Arif, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul
Mursalin, Md Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Md Iqbal, Mowlana Liton, and Ratul
Ahmed Babu to 20-year imprisonment and fined Taka 50,000 each.
During the BNP-Jamaat regime, the investigators were trying to divert the
probe to a wrong direction to save the real culprits. Media reports brought
to public attention the cooked-up story of Joj Mia 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.