August- name of a tragedy in Bangladesh
Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed writes for DOT
Fifteen years ago on 21 August 2004, several military grade grenades were hurled at an Awami League rally in Bangabandhu Avenue, Dhaka. The 2004 attack was carried out by the terrorist group Harkat Ul Jihad (HuJI) at the behest of the highest echelons of the then BNP-Jamaat Government including Tarique Rahman, the then BNP State Minister Lutfozzaman Babor, the then BNP Deputy Education Minister Abdus Salam Pintu, the then Jamaat E Islami Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mojaheed, Political Secretary of the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia Harris Chowdhury, and several top law enforcement and intelligence officials of DGFI and NSI. There was involvement of several other foreign groups including Kashmir-based separatist organisations, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, Tehrik Jihad-e Islam, Lashkar-e Tyaba, and the Myanmar-based Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO).
Evidence from the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally was intentionally destroyed while a police investigation into the incident was diverted along other avenues,
“My generation did not get to witness or live through the events of 15 August 1975. In fact, growing up, we knew little about that fateful night except for the information we received from our own families. It was certainly not a topic of history that we discussed at school. It was a time when you did not refer to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as Bangabandhu or the Father of the Nation. However, we did get to witness and/or live through the events of 21 August 2004 in its fullest clarity. Thanks to the role of the media at that time, no detail was left to imagination. We saw how one political force in Bangladesh acted to eliminate their opposing political force using military grade grenades. In the sounds of those blasts at Bangabandhu Avenue we heard the echoes of the gunshots at Dhanmondi Road 32. The perpetrators were the same, the targeted victims were the same, the modus operandi was the same. In order to understand 15 August 1975, my generation had to witness 21 August 2004. And understand we did”, said Barrister Shah Ali Farhad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Tarique Rahman, son of Khaleda Zia and the then acting chief of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), targeted Sheikh Hasina and Awami League leadership for elimination in 2004. For this task, terrorists of HuJi were used. HuJi. Huji got involved as they considered Sheikh Hasina an ‘Enemy of Islam’ for her secular leadership.
The planning of the attack and final details were finalized a few days before the attack in the political office of Tarique Rahman in Gulshan, Dhaka called ‘Hawa Bhaban’. HuJi terrorists met with, took directions from, and were assured of all administrative support from, Tarique Rahman, and other influential participants of that planning meeting. Lutfozzaman Babar, then State Minister for Home, Harris Chowdhury, Political Secretary to then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami and the then social welfare minister, Abdus Salam Pintu, the then Deputy Minister for Education, NSI Director General Brig Gen Abdur Rahim and DGFI Director Brig Gen Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury. Confessional statement of Mufti Hannan states that the fugitive convicted killer of Bangabandhu, Major Noor Chowdhury, was also an active participant of that meeting.
Apart from that meeting at Hawa Bhaban, other planning meetings took place at a Huji Den in Mohammadpur and the Dhanmondi residence of BNP Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu, during which time the grenades were handed over to HujI killers by Tajuddin.
On 20 August, the day before the attack, HuJi killers, Kajol and Abu Jandal went to Bangabandhu Avenue to inspect the scene of the attack. The name of the operation was ‘Light Snacks for Sheikh Hasina’ (‘Sheikh Hasina Ke Nashta Korano’). On 21 August, they met at a designated Badda house to group. It was decided that a total of 12 would participate in the attack, led by Kajol and Abu Jandal. They then prayed together and had lunch. After the final meeting, Maulana Sayeed gave a sermon on Jihad. Mufti Hannan ten handed over 15 grenades to the 12 designated killers.
As agreed, after Asr prayers, they all regrouped near Golap Shah Mazar. After that they took positions around the truck where the Awami League leaders would address the rally. After Sheikh Hasina’s speech, Abu Jandal hurled the first grenade. Then, each of them hurled their grenades and left the scene. As agreed with the plotters earlier, they received helped from security and intelligence officials to flee the scene of the crime in broad daylight.
Given that the top government and security officials of BNP and Jamaat were themselves involved in the planning and execution of the attack, in hindsight, it appears hardly surprising that they did everything in their power to ensure that there was never any proper investigation of the 21st August attack. In fact, they did just the opposite to divert the process, derail the investigation and helped the attackers escape justice. In the immediate aftermath of such an attack, any basic forensic sense would dictate that the crime scene be cordoned off for collection of samples and evidences, but the entire scene was washed with water and detergent to destroy any evidence. Even the recovered grenades were not preserved, but rather destroyed.
As a means of cover up, the then BNP-Jamaat Government formed a one-man Judicial Commission headed by Justice Joynal Abedin which performed a mockery of an investigation and concluded that ‘foreign and local enemies’ had carried out the attack. Two years later that same Justice Joynal was elevated to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, presumably as a means of rewarding him for his ‘report’.
One of the principal tactics employed by the then BNP-Jamaat Government to derail the justice process was to implicate innocent people in the case. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) came to Dhaka to probe the grenade attack. But, a few months later, senior CID officials made up the farcical Joj Mia story. They detained Joj Mia along with 20 other petty criminals. They were forced to give false confessions. The real identities of the detainees were later revealed by the media and the ludicrous nature of the investigation was exposed by the end of 2004 (Aug 21 attack verdict: Babar, 30 accused taken to Dhaka court, The Daily Star, 10 October 2018).
This barbaric action of BNP is embedded in every Bengali’s brain of this generation.
BNP’s involvement in the most horrific event in the history of Bangladesh in 1975 is also not unknown to people. The assassination of ‘The Father of the Nation’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the greatest tragedy in the history of Bangladesh. The main conspiracy to assassinate Bangabandhu was hatched inside Dhaka cantonment by pseudo freedom fighters like Khandaker Abdur Rashid (a close relative of Khandaker Moshtaque), Farookh Rahman, Shariful Hoque Dalim and others. All of them reported to the Mujibnagar government towards the end of the war, from October to November, claiming that they have defected from the Pakistani army. It is, however, clear now that they were actually the fifth columnists working in disguise for Pakistan. With them they found a few senior repatriates who were unhappy as their colleagues who participated in the Liberation War were given two years of seniority. General Zia, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, whose role during the war was always under scrutiny, was in the loop of the conspirators though Bangabandhu loved him as his own son. Zia was unhappy as he was not made the Army Chief immediately after liberation. In March, Abdur Rashid and Farookh Rahman discussed their plan to overthrow Bangabandhu with Zia. He gave the green signal and said that as a senior officer he cannot directly get involved with their plan, but if they wish, they can go ahead. Zia’s duty was to report this incident to his superiors but he never did that, as he wanted to be one of the beneficiaries of Mujib’s overthrow. Bangabandhu and a few senior Awami League leaders considered Zia to be very ambitious. A few months before the assassination of Bangabandhu, Zia was given a diplomatic posting either in East Germany or Belgium. Zia, however, managed to persuade Bangabandhu through some senior Awami League leaders to have the new assignment cancelled. He told Bangabandhu that his loyalty to him and the government was absolute and that he wanted to retire as a professional soldier. Bangabandhu trusted Zia and cancelled his new assignment.
On 10 October 2018, over 14 years after this deadly attack, the Former State Minister, former Deputy Minister and 17 others were sentenced to death, while BNP leader Tarique Rahman and 18 others were awarded life term imprisonment
The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh under its preamble states that the high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism shall be the fundamental principles of the Constitution. The Constitution also states that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to realise through the democratic process a socialist society, free from exploitation a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens.
The people who believe in this Constitutional commitment including the historians and freedom fighters have demanded that the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami be banned from Bangladesh because Jamaat committed war crimes during the Liberation War and the BNP repatriated Jamaat in politics. Jamaat committed genocide in the name of Islam during the Liberation War and their atrocities are still continuing because of BNP’s political support.
If the perpetrators had been successful in August 2004, Bangladesh would have turned into a militant state.
After the 11th parliamentary election, Awami League came into power and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina is leading our country as PM. Under her leadership, the entire nation is witnessing the development of our country at a record pace. Her visionary approaches to women empowerment earned her global acclamation. Our PM deserves all the credit of restarting the process of building a poverty and hunger-free country after assassination of Bangabandhu and his family. Turning Bangladesh into “Sonar Bangla” was envisioned by her father and she is putting her best to make it a reality. As an ordinary citizen of this country, we demand the victims of this heinous attack in August 2004 are not denied justice. We want our “Sonar Bangla” where these criminals would have no place to get shelter.
Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed is an Advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court and Executive Editor at Daily Our Time.