'Attack aimed at making AL leaderless'
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
February 02, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2023
'Attack aimed at making AL leaderless'

August 21st

TBS Report
21 August, 2019, 08:40 am
Last modified: 21 August, 2019, 10:29 am

Related News

  • 21 August: Where are the key perpetrators now
  • PM recalls Ivy Rahman’s contributions to all democratic movements
  • PM describes Zia as 'real villain' of 1975 carnage
  • A year of toils and exhilaration for tbsnews.net
  • 16th anniversary of Aug 21 grenade attacks tomorrow

'Attack aimed at making AL leaderless'

"But that a party in power would try to reap political benefits by killing opposition leaders could not be an expression of democratic thoughts"

TBS Report
21 August, 2019, 08:40 am
Last modified: 21 August, 2019, 10:29 am
Sheikh Hasina was saved by a human-shield, formed by the senior leaders of Awami league during August 21 grenade attack  in 2004. Photo: Shamsul Hoque Tanku
Sheikh Hasina was saved by a human-shield, formed by the senior leaders of Awami league during August 21 grenade attack in 2004. Photo: Shamsul Hoque Tanku

The August 21 grenade attack was an attempt to make the Awami League (AL) leaderless, a special court observed.

The deadly attack has had a far-reaching impact on the country’s politics, said the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 on October 10, 2018 while pronouncing the judgment in two cases over the grenade attack on an AL rally on August 21, 2004.

Judge Shahed Nuruddin said, “In a democratic state, whichever party comes to power, it has to try its best to establish democracy by applying a liberal policy towards the opposition party.”

But that a party in power would try to reap political benefits by killing opposition leaders could not be an expression of democratic thoughts, he said, adding, “General people do not want such politics.”

Former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and 18 others were sentenced to death for their roles in the attack.

Acting BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman, along with 18 others, was jailed for life.

Twenty-four people were killed while scores of others injured in the gruesome attack.

The court pointed out that the defeated forces of 1971 had never stopped hatching conspiracy to diminish the spirit of the Liberation War and halt the development of independent Bangladesh.

In a bid to accomplish their unholy cause by making the AL – the pivotal political force that led the nation to freedom – leaderless, the anti-liberation elements first killed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members on August 15, 1975, the court elaborated.

Four national leaders were murdered inside a prison on November 3 the same year through a conspiracy, it added.

The August 21 attack was also carried out with the same motive to annihilate the AL leadership.

Judge Nuruddin said the lethal attack on the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina was carried out by some home-grown militants, who had taken help from some international militant groups for that purpose.

It was launched with a code "Sheikh Hasina will be served a light breakfast", he said.

He went on to say, “Specialised lethal weapon Arges grenades, which are used in wars, were blasted in front of the Awami League's central office on 23 Bangabandhu Avenue in broad daylight with the help of the then state machinery.”

Expressing his utter dismay over the matter, the judge put forward a question as to why such lethal weapon was used.

“Does politics mean carrying out a heinous attack on an opposition party?” asked Judge Nuruddin.

“The court thinks that recurrence of such heinous and shameful incidents can be stopped by giving exemplary punishment to the accused,” he added.

August 21

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Song of the farmers as boro begins
    Song of the farmers as boro begins
  • Country's external position improves as trade deficit narrows by 21% in H1 FY23
    Country's external position improves as trade deficit narrows by 21% in H1 FY23
  • Infograph: TBS
    Remittance inflow increases 15% in January

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Reuters
    Dollar drops as risk appetite improves after Fed minutes
  • Photo: PMO Press Wing
    PM Hasina blames BNP-Jamaat govt for 21 August carnage
  • Photo: PMO Press Wing
    Sheikh Hasina pays tribute to 21 Aug grenade attack victims
  • FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Tami Chappell/File Photo
    CDC advisers back Covid booster shots for those 65 and older, not for high-risk workers
  • Sheikh Hasina was saved by a human-shield, formed by the senior leaders of Awami league during August 21 grenade attack  in 2004. Photo: Shamsul Hoque Tanku
    August 21 grenade attack: Living in agony, with trauma
  • Victims were seen lying on the ground after the August 21 grenade attack in 2004. Photo- Roton Gomes.
    The day Bangladesh’s politics changed forever

Related News

  • 21 August: Where are the key perpetrators now
  • PM recalls Ivy Rahman’s contributions to all democratic movements
  • PM describes Zia as 'real villain' of 1975 carnage
  • A year of toils and exhilaration for tbsnews.net
  • 16th anniversary of Aug 21 grenade attacks tomorrow

Features

An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees

An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees

22h | Panorama
Infographic: TBS

How to redirect inward remittances to formal channels

23h | Panorama
Photo: Bloomberg

How the 'madoffs of Manhattan' can unravel Gautam Adani's empire

22h | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Tips to incorporate sustainable construction

1d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Is Hathurusingha the most successful coach of Bangladesh?

Is Hathurusingha the most successful coach of Bangladesh?

12h | TBS SPORTS
Semiconductor, pharma should get more attention

Semiconductor, pharma should get more attention

14h | TBS Round Table
Dhali Al Mamun’s art depicts colonial impact

Dhali Al Mamun’s art depicts colonial impact

13h | TBS Stories
Jewel's humanitarian store

Jewel's humanitarian store

11h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
Photo: Saqlain Rizve
Bangladesh

Bangladeshi university students identified as problematic users of Facebook, internet: Study

4
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

5
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

6
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]