BNP smells ‘AL involvement’ in August 21 attack

BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed yesterday said there is a question in public mind whether Awami League had “involvement” with the  blueprint of the August 21 grenade attack. 

“It [August 21 attack] was part of a  deep-rooted blueprint. People wonder whether the ruling party [AL] had involvement with it,”  he said.

Rizvi, BNP’s senior joint secretary general, came up with the remarks while speaking at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

The nation is observing the 15th anniversary of the brutal attack on an Awami League rally in the city that killed at least 24 leaders and activists of the party and injured 300 others.

Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader, luckily escaped the attack but her hearing was affected badly.

Nearly 14 years after the gruesome grenade attack, a Dhaka court on October 10 last year sentenced 19 people, including the then BNP-led government’s state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, to  death.

Tarique Rahman, BNP’s current acting chairman, and 18 others were  also sentenced to life in prison in the case.

Rizvi claimed that the investigation into the grenade attack case was not fair and impartial. “Neutral investigation was obstructed; we have repeatedly talked about it in the past.”

He said Tarique Rahman’s name was not in the charge sheet submitted during the caretaker government’s rule on August 22, 2007, accusing 22  people.

The BNP leader alleged that Tarique’s name was included in the  supplementary charge sheet of the case when Awami League came to power.

He questioned why the investigation officer of the case did not find Tarique’s involvement in the grenade attack during the 1/11 regime.

“Tarique Rahman was implicated in the case with a political motive. Had there been rule of law, justice and good governance, the real culprits would have been punished,” Rizvi observed.

Describing the August 21 attack as a tragic incident, he claimed that those who conspired against the then BNP government might have carried it out.

Reacting to ruling party leaders’ remarks accusing BNP for the  grenade attack, Rizvi said, “Pilkhana carnage occurred during Awami League’s rule. Is Awami League responsible for the incident?”

As his attention was drawn to the information minister’s comment that  Khaleda Zia was involved with the August 21 attack, he said they can say anything as they are now in power, but people know the truth.