One man shame for judiciary
A day after the gruesome grenade attack on August 21 in 2004, the then BNP government had formed a one-member inquiry commission comprised of a High Court judge that submitted its report to the home ministry on October 2.
Media reports at that time said Justice Joynul Abedin's probe had hinted at links of "foreign enemies" with the attack but it had stopped short of naming any country.
The grisly attack was apparently to assassin the then opposition leader and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and its senior leaders present at a rally in front of the party's central office at the Bangabandhu Avenue.
Before submitting his report, Justice Joynul Abedin had talked to reporters about it but he did not disclose the identity and aim of the perpetrators of the attack that killed 20 and injured over 200 saying he was not at liberty to make them public.
However, talking to The Daily Star Wednesday night, the retired Justice claimed that a neighbouring country had wanted to create anarchy aimed at unseating the then BNP-led four party government through the August 21 grenade attack.
That country wanted to establish a puppet government in place of the four-party government for the sake of its own interest. It wanted the people to go against the BNP-Jamaat government following the incident, he said about the findings of his inquiry.
Justice Abedin said his findings might have been different had the Awami League President and then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina and other senior leaders present during the incident cooperated with the probe.
AL had rejected the judicial inquiry commission outright and questioned the government's sincerity in probing the grenade attack.
The party also did not allow the commission to inspect Hasina's SUV that had whisked her to safety immediately after the blasts.
Asked, Justice Abedin told The Daily Star he had found evidence that the spy agency of that country had a hand in the attack.
He also added that he did not get any "clear" evidence of involvement of then BNP-Jamaat government or any other officials of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence or Prime Minister's Office in the incident.
Justice Joynul, who was later elevated to the Appellate Division on August 24, 2006, and retired on December 31, 2009, said he still believed his findings were complete and based on evidence.
Meanwhile, some senior investigating CID officials, had presented a petty criminal, Joj Mia, as one of the attackers.
They had Joj Mia make a confessional statement of his involvement. He named several absconding criminals known to be hiding in India as his co-conspirators.
The whole story, however, fell apart as the media did not take long to find holes in his story.
Further investigation revealed in 2012 that the heinous attack was an outcome of conspiracy among militant outfit Huji and a section of senior officials of the home ministry, police, DGFI, NSI and PMO. Some influential leaders of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami were also alleged to have been involved in the planning, according to the investigation. They were indicted in the case and are now facing trial.
Asked about the judicial inquiry commission's findings in the light of those developments, Justice Abedin claimed his report was entirely based on the evidence that was collected by the commission at that time.
The commission recorded statements of 123 people, including the injured victims and their doctors, AL leaders and activists present at the rally, explosives experts, journalists, and security men.
Referring to the ongoing trial process of August 21 grenade attack case, he said names of the attackers would be known after the judgment.
Joynul said he had not uncovered any names of attackers in his probe. "We will have to wait and see who the attackers were," he added.