Claiming that the sequences of the events leading to the Aug 21 grenade attack was shrouded in mystery, the BNP claims that the Awami League government has guided the investigation and trial of the 2004 attack.
“It should have taken the prime minister approximately 2-3 minutes to get inside her bulletproof car after her speech ended,” senior leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told a media briefing on Saturday.
The grenades were hurled not targeting the dias, he claimed before adding: “There are reasons to suspect that it was an insider job.”
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi also claimed that the Awami League administration has guided the investigation and trial.
“The investigation conducted during 1/11 regime (military-backed caretaker administration) found no evidence against Tarique Rahman or any other then-government officials. But after the Awami League took office in 2009, it recalled the investigating officer from retirement and conducted a fresh probe, when Tarique Rahman was implicated.”
The attack targeted an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on Aug 21, 2004 when the BNP-Jamaat government was in power.
Sheikh Hasina, at the time leader of the opposition in parliament, was to address it.
She was stepping off the truck, which was being used as a dais, when the assailants hurled the grenades into the rally. Investigators said 13 to 14 grenades were detonated on the day.
Among those killed in the blasts was Bangladesh Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, wife of senior Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, who was later to be elected the country’s president. The attack left Hasina with hearing problems.
Late Dhaka mayor Mohammad Hanif was among over 500 injured in the explosions.