18th anniversary of Aug 21 grenade attack today

The Awami League leaders massed before their central office for a peace rally against terrorism at Bangabandhu Avenue on an ordinary Saturday 18 years ago. But a series of ghastly grenade attacks poured death and terror on the gathering in an attempt on the life of party chief Sheikh Hasina.

A makeshift stage was raised on a truck as the area tingled with anticipation and excitement before explosions triggered clouds of smoke and blinded the party leaders, activists, and the press pack.

The scene of the carnage became littered with mutilated corpses, injured screaming in pain, and bloodied activists running around, blood and shoes splattered all over.

The attack left 24 people dead.

That Aug 21 in 2004 was another dark day for democracy and in the political history of Bangladesh. The grenade attack was the second biggest blow to the Awami League, the party that led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan in 1971, with the biggest one being the assassination of founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Hasina, the incumbent prime minister, was the leader of the opposition at that time, while the then prime minister of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government, Khaleda Zia, is now serving suspended sentences in corruption cases.

“The killers aimed to leave the Awami League leaderless and hinder the political process in Bangladesh in an effort to establish militancy and autocracy. But the people prevented that,” President Abdul Hamid said in a message commemorating the day.

“The first attack on democracy in independent Bangladesh was on 15 August 1975. On that day, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the great architect of the independence of Bangladesh, was killed with his family,” the president said.

“On November 3, they killed the four national leaders inside prison. The killers never ceased to plot and tried to kill [Hasina] in a grenade attack on August 21, 2004 during an Awami League rally.”

Hasina in her message said it was a “disgraceful day” in national history. She accuses the BNP-Jamaat alliance of “directly patronising” the attack.

She said it aimed to trample over the country’s independence, sovereignty, democracy and the spirit of the Liberation War, while leaving the Awami League and Bangladesh without a leader and perpetuate conspiracy, terrorism, militancy, corruption and misrule.

“Our dedicated party leaders and workers saved me from the series of grenade attacks by forming a human shield. I survived the attack due to immense blessings of the Almighty but some 24 leaders and workers including president of Mahila Awami League Ivy Rahman embraced martyrdom," the premier said, adding that more than 500 leaders and activists, journalists and security personnel were injured.

Expressing her deep condolences for the injured survivors, who are living “wretched lives” with splinters embedded in their limbs, Hasina prayed for the salvation of the departed souls.

She said such a hellish massacre at a political gathering in broad daylight is rare in world history.

It was the moral obligation of a government to arrest and bring to justice the culprits involved with such a heinous attack. But, the then government “protected the killers and helped a number of attackers leave the country”.

“They destroyed the evidence of the incident and in the name of investigation, diverted the incident to another direction. But truth can never be buried. Today, it has come out through investigation that many higher-ups of the BNP-Jamaat alliance government were directly involved with the attack," added the prime minister.

She hoped that the verdict in the case will soon be announced and, through its execution, the country will “see off terrorism and militancy” to establish “a safe and peaceful habitat for the future generation”.

THE DARK DAY

Party leaders began delivering their speeches from the makeshift stage erected on the back of a truck at around 3:00 pm on that day. Senior leaders took the stage after one more hour and Hasina arrived after another half an hour with the supporters waiting for her speech.

Hasina and other leaders stood behind a table, used as the podium, on the right-hand side of the truck as they spoke. The Awami League chief's bullet-proof Mercedes SUV was parked within a few yards of the steps at the back of the truck.

Mamun sat beside the podium throughout the rally. Meanwhile, Shoeb stood on the bottom rung of the steps with retired Maj Gen Tarique Ahmed Siddique standing beside the car.

Mamun assumed Hasina was about to finish her speech and began to approach her. It was then that the first grenade was charged at the stage. It was followed by three more explosions as smoke engulfed the entire area.

Hanif and Mamun rushed to Hasina's side in the immediate aftermath. The duo urged Hasina to sit down but she refused. At one point, they forced her to sit.

Sheikh Hasina, the target of Aug 21 grenade attack, hopes to eliminate terrorism from Bangladesh

Three more grenades went off around the truck. Shoeb, who stood at the bottom step, barked out orders to immediately evacuate Hasina to safety.

A grenade then bounced off the back of the truck and exploded next to the vehicle as security personnel escorted Hasina to the steps. She was subsequently brought back on to the stage but the blast was believed to have cracked the truck's fuel tank to make matters worse.

Hasina's aides helped her get on her feet but she had lost her shoes and glasses. Shoeb held her when they reached the middle of the steps before she was seated on the front seat of the car.

But Hasina did not want to leave the injured behind, according to the security personnel at the scene.

They had taken her to Sudha Sadan against her will as a heap of mutilated bodies laid scattered on the street between the truck and the Awami League office. The injured were left groaning in pain.

Meanwhile, Awami League leaders and activists struggled to send the injured to the hospital as Bangabandhu Avenue was made out of bounds for transport after the explosion. They tried to carry the injured to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and vans.

At least 16 people died at the scene. Ivy Rahman, president of Bangladesh Mohila Awami League, died after a 58-hour fight for her life. Hanif, the first elected mayor of unbifurcated Dhaka City Corporation, succumbed to his injuries after one and a half years. The death toll from the grisly attack eventually stood at 24. Many of the injured suffered permanent physical deformities as they were maimed. Hasina suffered hearing loss and was under treatment at home and abroad for many years.

Among the casualties were Rafiqul Islam, adviser to the party’s Dhaka Metropolitan unit, and retired Lance Corporal Mahbubur Rashid, a member of Hasina’s security team.

The other victims are: Awami League’s central sub-committee Deputy Secretary Mostak Ahmed Sentu, Women Awami League leaders Sufia Begum and Hasina Mamtaz, Madaripur Juba League leader Liton Munshi, Ratan Sikdar from Narayanganj, Dhaka Mohanagar Rickshaw Shramil League leader Md Hanif, Nazrul Islam College student Mamun Mridha, Juba League leaders Aminul Islam, Atik Sarkar and Shamsuddin Abul Kalam Azad, Swechhasebak League leader Razia Begum and activist Abdul Kuddus Patwari, Shramik League activists Nasir Uddin Sardar, Abul Kashem, Jahid Ali, Momin Ali and Ishaq Miyah.

TARGET: HASINA

Hasina narrowly escaped death in the attack, which is believed to be an attempt to assassinate her. Detectives said about 13 or 14 grenades had exploded at the scene.

At least seven bullets had hit Hasina's car along with splinters. The tyres were punctured too. The three-layered bullet-proof vehicle also had a significant role in saving Hasina's life that day, Awami League stalwart Saber Hossain Chowdhury told reporters the next day.

Hasina's bodyguard 'Mahbub' was shot dead in the car. After Hasina got into the car, the attackers threw a grenade towards the left rear of the vehicle before firing shots at the tyres in a last-ditch effort to stop the car.

Chauffeur Mohammed Abdul Matin drove Hasina safely to Sudha Sadan in Dhanmondi through Doel Chattar, Shaheed Minar, Palashi, New Market and Pilkhana.

‘THEY SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES TO SAVE MINE’

Hasina shared her agony in an interview with the BBC the same day. “Our activists have saved my life by sacrificing theirs. They surrounded me while the grenades were exploding. Many of them were injured. My clothes are stained with their blood,” a tearful Hasina recounted.

“Terrorism is rampant across the country and it is being patronised by the government. Our rally was a protest against terrorism, to which they (assailants) responded with grenades. The attackers targeted the spot I would go through to get in the car after finishing my address. There were eight to 10 grenades going off one after another. One or two of them can still be found undetonated. Many of our activists, including women, were killed. Almost all of the presidium members were injured.”

As members of her party sought to rescue the injured, help from the authorities were not forthcoming. Instead, police baton-charged and teargassed them, Hasina told the BBC.

“It was clear that police were acting on instructions from the government,” she said.

DIVERTING THE COURSE OF THE PROBE

The Awami League alleged that there were attempts during the BNP-Jamaat government to divert the course of the investigation into the killings, culminating in the Joj Mia facade. But the “truth” about the attack started to come out following a reinvestigation during the term of the military-backed caretaker government.

The Criminal Investigation Department or CID pressed charges in court on Jun 11, 2008.

The names of some 30 others, including Khaleda’s son Tarique Rahman, were added to the list of suspects following wider investigations after the Awami League came to power in 2009.

The BNP denied any links to the attack. It instead alleged the government had Tarique charged in the cases to make political gains. He has been in the UK since 2008.

Besides Tarique, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Khaleda’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami or HuJI leader Maulana Tajuddin, Khaleda’s nephew Saiful Islam Duke, and several top officials of the National Security Intelligence or NSI and police were accused in two cases - one over the deaths during the attack and the other under the Explosives Act.

Three other accused, former minister and Jamaat secretary-general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and HuJI leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan and Sharif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul have been hanged in other cases.