“I can never forget the blank look in Ivy Rahman’s eyes”

Sumon Mahbub, a Senior Correspondent at bdnews24.com and a witness, has recounted the horrific incident of grenade attack on the Awami League rally on Aug 21, 2004, in his own words.

It is an incident impossible to forget.

The blank look in Ivy Rahman's eyes, the lifeless body of uncle Ada, limbs and bodies lying scattered everywhere, blood and people screaming and wailing - all these I can see the moment I close my eyes even today.

[Ivy Rahman was the president of Bangladesh Mohila Awami League. Ada Chacha or uncle Ada, as he was fondly called, was an Awami League supporter]

It was 14 years ago that I was working as a staff reporter with the daily Bhorer Kagoj. I went to cover the Awami League rally against terrorism on Aug 21, 2004 at Bangabandhu Avenue.

Ivy Rahman

The rally was scheduled to start from Bangabandhu Avenue and end at Russell Square in Dhanmondi. The journalists were present at Bangabandhu Avenue by 4pm.

A stage was already set up on a truck which was parked in the middle of the road. As usual a meeting was scheduled to be held before the rally started. The meeting began in time.

We journalists were waiting for Sheikh Hasina's statement. She came around 5pm and began to deliver her speech.

Bangabandhu Avenue was packed with people. The journalists were taking notes sitting on the stairs in Ramna Bhaban as Hasina was addressing the rally.

She could barely say “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu” to conclude her speech when all hell broke loose.

Initially I heard two sounds but those were not so loud. It was more like the sound of tear gas being fired.

We got on our feet to find out what happened and there it happened - we heard a deafening sound. We did not realise that it was a grenade attack. Then we heard another, followed by one more loud bang of explosion. We tried to count how many explosions took place.

We heard a few gunshots as well but were far from comprehending the scale of horror that had just unfolded. As I stood on the steps of Ramna Bhaban, I saw people who came to attend the meeting running aimlessly.

We rushed to the first floor of Ramna Bhaban. Someone closed the collapsible gate in front of the building leaving Uttam Chakrabarty of Janakantha and Salam Zubair of Sangbad outside the building.

Farid Ahmed Shaju from UNB, Hasina's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad and I kept looking for an exit from the first floor of Ramna Bhaban; simultaneously counting the explosions…10, 11, 12. We counted until 13. Then there was no sound.

Three of us came down on to the street and what we saw cannot be expressed in words.

Hundreds of shoes were scattered on the street.

There were lifeless human bodies, blood and severed body parts lying on the street.

The screams of those wounded added to the gruesome scene.

Suddenly, I realised that Hasina's car was not at the scene.

I began to look around and then saw Jibon, the then private photographer of Hasina coming towards us.

"Apa is not there. They took her away?" Jibon said and broke into a sob.

He could not finish; police started to charge tear gas. We all ran to the nearby shrine of Golap Shah.

I could see the police chasing people who had gathered in front of Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra. We again walked towards Bangabandhu Avenue - prepared to witness something bad.

We saw Hasina’s bulletproof car was gone. A few Awami League leaders were lying on the truck. Then I saw Abdul Jalil trying to sit up clad in a blood-stained white punjabi. Some people got him down from the truck and took him to the Awami League office. Next it was Suranjit Sengupta who was taken off the truck. He too was bleeding.

There were two dead bodies lying in front of the Ramna Bhaban. One of it had the legs severed. The other one seemed to have been crushed by someone.

I saw the lifeless uncle Ada in front of a shop at Ramna Bhaban. He appeared to be sitting by leaning on the shutter and spreading his legs. 

As I moved ahead to see the situation in the Awami League central office and got near the truck, I could not believe my eyes. The scene was so gory.

Ivy Rahman sat there but it was only her torso; both of her legs had disappeared. There was a pool of blood and flesh. It seemed she looked at us but her eyes were blank.

I cannot forget that scene, ever. That blank look in Ivy Rahman’s eyes appears whenever I close my eyes to remember the carnage.

A young man was screaming for help as he tried to pick Ivy Rahman. Corpses of a few other women were lying a little ahead. Ward Commissioner Dipti was groaning in pain with her blooded body.

I could not go to the Awami League office anymore. Someone called me and I went to the alley at the eastern side of the Ramna Bhaban. I found a grenade lying among the scattered shoes and sandals and realised that it was a grenade attack.

[The report was first published in 2008]