BNP fears new crisis over Aug 21 grenade attack verdict: Quader

The BNP is worried that it may be embroiled in a fresh crisis once the Aug 21 grenade attack case verdict is announced, Obaidul Quader has said.

“Everyone but the BNP is happy that the verdict is going to be delivered,” the Awami League general secretary told reporters on Friday.

He placed a wreath at the grave of the former Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, who was among the 24 killed in the 2004 attack, at Banani in Dhaka.

“There are possibilities that the verdict will be delivered in September. The BNP is worried about the verdict, because they were involved. They will be in a new crisis once the verdict is out,” Quader said. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped death in the attack believed to be an assassination attempt on her when she was the leader of the opposition.

She recently said she strongly believed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s family were involved in the grenade attack.

The BNP, which was in power during the attack, said Hasina’s comments on the issue ‘proved’ that the government was trying to influence the verdict.

The attack was carried out with “direct support of the BNP government while the Hawa Bhaban, the political office of Khaleda, had masterminded and ordered the attack”,  Quader said.

“I don’t understand how the comments (by Hasina) will influence the verdict? As many as 500 people, including myself, are still crippled, half-crippled.

“Won’t there be justice for the killings? BNP had even burnt evidence and blocked FBI and Scotland Yard from investigating the attack,” he said. 

“They (BNP) staged the Joj Mia drama instead of trying those responsible for the brutal bloodbath, grizzly grenade attack,” he added.

Khaleda’s son and the party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, her nephew Saiful Islam Duke, former state ministers Lutofozzaman Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu, and former BNP MP Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad are among the suspects in the Aug 21 case.