“Just like Zia(ur Rahman) was involved in the Aug 15 (1975) massacre, Khaleda and her son were involved in the Aug 21 attack – there is no doubt about that,” the prime minister said on Friday, the 11th anniversary of a ghastly attack on her in the capital.
A group of rogue army officers had assassinated the nation’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of her family members on Aug 15, 1975.
His daughter Hasina, then the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, had survived a grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on Aug 21, 2004, when the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance was in power.
Twenty-four persons, including late President Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman, were killed and numerous severely injured.
Friday’s discussion was held at the same spot where the 2004 public rally was held, on the street in front of the ruling party’s headquarters.
Hasina also came in the same bulletproof car that she had taken to the rally venue eleven years ago before the grisly attack.
“The BNP was in power at that time. Evidence of the attack was destroyed instead of preserving them. City corporation vehicles were brought in quickly and evidence was destroyed,” she said.
The Awami League has been alleging that the BNP were behind the attack and it was carried out only to assassinate Hasina, the president of the party.