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Published : 21 Aug 2014, 08:27 PM
“The nation must be saved from the clutches of this murderous family,” Hasina on Thursday said after paying homage to the victims of the attack on its 10th anniversary.
Hasina barely escaped the attack, designed to eliminate her, but 24 people were killed and over 500 others injured. Many others lost their limbs and sustained permanent physical injuries.
“There’s no doubt that the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government, the BNP chief, her son and ministers are directly involved with this conspiracy (Aug 21 attack),” the Awami League chief alleged.
BNP chief Khaleda was the prime minister then.
On that day, Awami League activists shielded Hasina from the grenades. Later, investigation revealed that the Awami League president was the main target.
“If you look closely, you’ll see that the then prime minister (Khaleda), her son, and Cabinet members were involved with the Aug 21 incident in the same way as Zia was with the 1975 incident (Bangabandhu’s assassination),” claimed Hasina.
Khaleda’s elder son Tarique was accused in a case over the attack, along with 29 others, after further investigation but the BNP claimed it was “politically motivated”.
Others accused include former minister Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar.
The BNP refutes the prime minister’s allegation that its founder, former military dictator Zia was involved in Bangabandhu’s assassination.
“A murderous family wants to destroy the independence gained through the sacrifice of 3 million lives... Their only task was to kill people and practice corruption…” she said of Zia’s family.
Recalling the Aug 21 attack, she said, “No measures were taken over the incident. All the evidence was destroyed.”
The injured were not taken to hospitals, she claimed, adding that the BNP-affiliated doctors were absent from work at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on that day.
“Khaleda Zia went to see Ivy Rahman (injured in the attack) at the CMH on Aug 23 or 24. Ivy’s children were locked away in a room [ahead of the visit]… no-one was allowed there.
“Then Khaleda visited her, took a picture and she (Ivy) was pronounced dead shortly after,” said Hasina.
Hasina, then the opposition leader, claimed she was not given the floor when she wanted to discuss the matter in Parliament.
“All that this [Zia] family does is kill people,” she alleged.
“There will be no place for killers on this soil,” the prime minister stated.
