Five local and foreign militant organizations were involved in the August 21 attacks

❐ Special Correspondent

Five local and foreign militant organizations were involved in the grenade attack aimed at assassinating Sheikh Hasina at the Awami League’s anti-terrorism rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.

Presenting relevant information in the court, senior advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman, the chief prosecutor for the state, said that five local and foreign militant organizations were involved in the brutal attack. The organizations are Harkatul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, Kashmiri separatist organization Hizbul Mujahideen, Tehreek Jihad-e-Islam, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Myanmar’s Arakan Solidarity Organization (RSO).

He said that these militant organizations, along with Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government, were involved in the horrific and brutal August 21 grenade attack. The then government used state institutions like the Ministry of Home Affairs, DGFI, NSI and Bangladesh Police to carry out the incident.

Syed Rezaur Rahman said that 12 accused have submitted 13 statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, admitting their involvement. Among the accused, militant Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi submitted two statements. He highlighted parts of his statement.

Mufti Hannan’s statement made it clear that the main aim of the attack was to kill the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasin, the president of the Awami League. The meeting held in the planning and execution of the incident and the names of those involved have been mentioned in his statement. Here, BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, Tarique Rahman and others have been mentioned by Mufti Hannan in his statement.

The chief prosecutor said that eight witnesses for the state gave evidence in support of the accused’s statement. The witnesses include Major General Sadiq Hasan Rumi, Major (retd) Atiqur Rahman, Maulana Mosaddek, Abdul Aziz Sarkar, and Major (retd) Syed Munirul Islam.

Syed Rezaur Rahman said that a total of 511 witnesses have been called for the state in this case. Of these, 408 were called in the charge sheet, 83 in the supplementary charge sheet and 20 more were called based on the state’s application. In this sensitive and controversial case, 225 people, including the investigation officer (IO) of the case and Senior Special Police Superintendent of CID Abdul Kahar Akand, gave testimonies.

The prosecution examined the witnesses. Then all the accused were examined under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 20 witnesses testified for the prosecution. The state examined these witnesses. Syed Rezaur Rahman claimed that some of the testimony of the accused went against them during the examination.

He said that the case brought in connection with the August 21 casualty incident was taken into consideration by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on August 25, 2011, and the case brought under the Explosive Substances Act was taken into consideration by the Metropolitan Special Tribunal-1 on July 14, 2011.

The chief prosecutor said that there are a total of 52 accused in two separate cases in the brutal attack on August 21. The accused in the case include State Minister for Home Affairs of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government Lutfuzzaman Babar, BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and 23 others are in jail. In this case, former IGs of Police Ashraful Huda, Shahudul Haque and Khodabox Chowdhury, Lt. Commander (retd) Saiful Islam Duke and three former investigation officers in the case – former CID SP Ruhul Amin, former CID ASP Atiqur Rahman and Abdur Rashid – are out on bail, while a total of 8 others are out on bail.

Tarique Rahman, BNP leader Haris Chowdhury, Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, Major General (LPR) ATM Amin, Lt. Col. (retd) Saiful Islam Joarder and 18 others are absconding. In addition, three accused Jamaat leaders Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Mufti Hannan and Sharif Saidul Alam Bipul were released from this case as their death sentences were executed in other cases.

During the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, a grenade attack on an anti-terrorism rally of the Awami League on August 21, 2004, killed 24 people and injured more than 500 people, including activists, lawyers and journalists. Among the dead was the then president of the Women’s Awami League, Ivy Rahman, wife of the late President Zillur Rahman. The then opposition leader and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack, but her hearing was damaged by the loud sound of the grenade. Top leaders of the Awami League also survived the grenade attack, although they were injured.