B'desh Awami League commemorates 2004 grenade attack, calls it 'horrific and disgraceful'

Dhaka, Aug 21 (IANS) Bangladesh's Awami League Party on Thursday recalled the 2004 grenade attack on its anti-terrorism peace rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, calling it a 'horrific and disgraceful' day in the country's political history, as it marked 21 years since the tragedy.

The party mentioned that during the attack, several military grade grenades were hurled at its rally, in which 24 leaders and activists of the Awami League and its associate bodies were killed, and more than 500 were permanently crippled.

According to the Awami League, on August 21, 2004, the barbaric attack was carried out under the direct patronage of the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government.

The party alleged that the aim was to assassinate the Awami League President and then Leader of the Opposition, Sheikh Hasina, and to "destroy" Bangladesh's independence, democracy, and the "spirit" of the 1971 Liberation War.

The party stressed that the grenades used in the attack and other evidence also proved the involvement of Pakistan and its local agents in the incident.

"With the joint efforts of defeated forces of 1971, both domestic and foreign, there was an attempt to annihilate the pro-Liberation forces led by Awami League, to turn Bangladesh into a militant, failed state in line with Pakistani ideology, and to crush the democratic aspirations of the people But by the infinite grace of Almighty Creator, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived that day, keeping alive the flame of our hope," read a statement issued by the Awami League.

Slamming the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, the party asserted that "the illegal usurper, killer-fascist Yunus clique is also now steering Bangladesh in the same Pakistani ideological direction as the embodiment of those extremist communal militant forces."

The party stated that it was after 14 long years in 2018 that the Bangladeshi Court delivered its verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case by sentencing 19 people to death, 19 others, including chief planner BNP leader Tarique Rahman, to life imprisonment, and 11 police and army officials to various prison terms.

However, the Awami League claimed that after Yunus came to power "unconstitutionally," under his direct orders, a High Court bench delivered a farcical verdict, acquitting all convicted criminals.

"This will remain as another disgrace in the history of the nation, and just as heinous as the grenade attack itself was the shameful acquittal," the party stated.

Reaffirming its commitment to democracy, justice, and human rights, the party paid tribute to the people who lost their lives in the attack and expressed sympathy for those who were injured.

It also called upon the people of Bangladesh to unite in resisting the "extremist communal militants" and their representatives -- the BNP, Jamaat and Yunus -- to restore democracy in the country.

--IANS

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