Attackers must be punished

Hasina paying tribute to the August 21 victims on Bangabandhu Avenue.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the trial of the gruesome August 21 grenade attack on Awami League rally must be held and the verdict of the trial must be executed.
She said it was a well-planned attack designed to eliminate AL's entire leadership and there is no doubt the BNP-Jamaat alliance government had a hand in it.
Addressing a programme marking the seventh anniversary of the attack at Bangabandhu Avenue, a tearful Hasina narrated how she escaped the attack and said: “It is the almighty Allah who saved me. But I lost 24 of my party leaders and activists including Ivy Rahman.”
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.
Hasina said the then government plotted “Joj Mia Drama” in a desperate bid to save the killers and culprits behind the attack.
Moreover, police helped attackers to flee the spots and doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University were made to absent themselves from duty to hinder treatment of the injured, she said adding that she would see till the last day of her life that the victims of the incident get proper treatment.
Hasina, the president of AL, said her government has a tough stand against such grisly incident. “We won't allow militancy and extremism; our drives to root out these evils will continue.”
She said the BNP-Jamaat had tried to eliminate their opposition by killing. “This is not a healthy attitude in a democratic polity. Opposition should be faced politically, not by killing them. This will not be tolerated.”
Several hundred party men including many senior leaders were injured when at least 13 grenades were blasted on an anti-terrorism rally by AL at Bangabandhu Avenue. Hasina, the then opposition leader, narrowly escaped the attack but lost her hearing in the right ear.
Earlier, the premier, senior leaders of AL and its components in the grand alliance placed floral wreaths at an altar built in memory of the victims on Bangabandhu Avenue to pay tribute to the dead and maimed victims of the grenade attack.
A special prayer was offered for the salvation of the departed soul of those killed in the attack.
In the afternoon, the premier exchanged views with the family members of the dead and injured in the attack at her official residence Gono Bhaban and took iftar with them.