Prof Dr Abu Sayeed, Former State Minister for Information

It was a blistering hot day on Bangabandhu Avenue. The whole area was bursting at the seams with hundreds of people. The dais raised on a truck for a mass rally was packed like sardines. Awami League president and daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Hasina reached the venue of the rally. Slogans against militancy and terrorism were reverberating through the venue.
Sheikh Hasina made a clarion call to resist the patrons of militancy and anti-liberation forces. Then grenades started raining down on the venue one after another. As many as 24 people were killed while more than 500 people were injured during the grenade attack. The well-orchestrated attack was carried out under the patronage of the then BNP-Jamaat government. On closer observation, it was revealed that national and international forces were behind the attack. The religious bigots were out to engulf the whole country. They tried to turn the country into a springboard for fanaticism. The main obstacle to the evil design was none other than Sheikh Hasina. That is why, they vowed to free Bangladesh from Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Hasina and top leadership of Awami League were the main targets of the gruesome attack so that they could push the country back to the post ’75 period.
It will not be proper to go into details since the case of August 21 carnage is under trial. However, some questions still linger on public mind. How can BNP-Jamaat government evade the responsibility of the grisly attack? According to an investigative report, only 280 policemen were deployed that day to resist procession, not for providing security to Sheikh Hasina. The policemen took their position at a little safe distance from the venue.
Now the questions here reasonably arise: Where did the ‘Urges’ grenades used in the attack come from? Who supplied the explosives? Why the security personnel were not deployed at the venue or the adjacent building? Why Sheikh Hasina was not provided security from the government? Did the intelligence agencies and security personnel discharge their duty following the repeated explosion of the grenades? I had witnessed that the police opened fire on the people when they tried to seize the assailants. The police fired tear gas shells at a time so that the assailants could make a safe exit from the venue. We must find answers to the questions.
What were the law enforcing agencies doing when Sheikh Hasina or her motorcade came under attack? Why Judge Mia drama was staged to cover up the complicity of the government in the attack?
Truth will be out. So far, She Hasina has come under attack for 19 times. The reason is simple. Sheikh Hasina is committed to building an exploitation-free and non-communal society. She is uncompromising in her ways. That is why she is the enemy of national and international forces. The assailants are after her. Every moment the bullets of the assassins are chasing her. She is advancing with the candle to remove darkness and build a ‘Sonar Bangla’ envisaged by the Father of the Nation Sheikh MujiburRahman.
The evil forces want to stop her onward journey; they are out to snuff out the last candle of hope for the nation. Those evil forces are still active and hatching conspiracy. We must resist them at any cost.
Translated by HossenSohel