Haunted forever

An unexploded grenade lying near the victims of the horrifying attack on August 21, 2004.Photo: File Photo

Seven years after the August 21 grenade attack on Awami League rally, survivor Abdul Matin, who has been partially paralysed, wants to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ask for a job.
Today is the seventh anniversary of the heinous attack, which was carried out apparently to kill Hasina, then opposition leader. Twenty-four people were killed in the blasts including Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman. The attack also left scores of people injured, many of them maimed.
One of the many splinters Matin still carries in his body had entered his head and paralysed the right side of his body.
He lost his job as salesman at a shop and has been unemployed ever since. He can now walk but with great difficulty.
Hailing from Barguna, the 40-year-old reached Dhaka on Friday. This is the first time Matin is going to attend programmes in Dhaka commemorating the August 21 attack.
He wants an audience with the prime minister. He is eager to be self-reliant, earn for his survival and treatment since he is regaining senses in the paralysed part of his body.
“I can only move slightly, but I cannot do other things. I need help of others even if I want to get on a bus,” the Awami League activist told The Daily Star yesterday.
In the last two and a half years, he received Tk 25,000 from the government for treatment, but for medicines alone, he has to spend Tk 750 a month.
On that fateful day, Matin was listening to Hasina at the rally. He heard the sound of a huge blast and within seconds, he heard a number of similar bangs. “Suddenly, I understood that something had hit me in the head and then I lost consciousness. I can't remember anything else. I regained senses at Dhaka Medical College Hospital several hours later,” Matin recalled.
Stories of other survivors are not different from Matin's. They still suffer from various physical and mental complications. The Daily Star talked to several of them to know how they are passing their days now.
With around 200 splinters inside his body, Mohammad Mukti Mamun, a survivor and Jubo League leader from the city's Basabo, cannot walk for a few minutes. The excruciating pain stops him.
“I have to take medicine every day, otherwise the splinters inside my body start itching,” said Mukti.
“I could not stand up and I got frightened seeing blood oozing out of my body,” he recalled. He was first taken to DMCH and later moved to a private hospital.
Kazi Jamir Uddin Siddique Titu has another problem. He cannot sleep well.
“I often wake up having nightmares. I have been living with around 50 splinters inside my body, mainly in the back and left chest,” Titu of Brahmanbaria said.
He cannot even offer his prayers the usual way. He has to pray sitting on a chair since he still feels pain.
His doctor asked him not to climb more than a few flights of stairs. He is now in Dhaka to join today's commemoration programmes.
Mukti and Titu are pleased with the supplementary charge sheets submitted in the cases filed in connection with the attack. They want exemplary punishment to the masterminds and others involved.
CHARGE SHEET & TRIAL
The Criminal Investigation Department on July 3 submitted supplementary charge sheets against BNP chief Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, Khaleda's political secretary Harris Chowdhury and Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and 30 others in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
According to the charge sheets, Hawa Bhaban, former political office of Khaleda Zia, which was considered an alternative centre of power, different militant organisations and a number of people from the administration had collaborated in planning and staging the grisly attack.
The Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on August 16 this year transferred the supplementary charge sheets of the murder case to the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka for trial.
Two cases were filed in connection with the attack, one for murder and the other under Explosive Substances Act.
PROGRAMMES
The ruling Awami League has taken up a number of programmes to observe the seventh anniversary of the grenade attack.
The programmes begin at 11:00am today with the placing of wreaths at the memorial plaque in front of the AL central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in memory of the deceased leaders and workers.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will exchange views with family members of those killed and the survivors at Gono Bhaban at 5:00pm. A discussion will also be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital at 3:00pm tomorrow with Hasina as chief guest.
AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam has urged all to observe the day and attend the discussion programme.