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POST TIME: 22 August, 2019 00:00 00 AM
Khaleda Zia can’t avoid liability for Aug 21 grenade attack: Info Minister
BSS, Dhaka

Khaleda Zia can’t avoid liability for Aug 21 grenade attack: Info Minister

Clockwise from top left, Awami League leaders, led by party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader, place a wreath at a makeshift altar in front of the party’s central office at the Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital; an injured survivor of the August 21, 2004 granade attacks bursts into tears as she joins others to place flowers at the altar; the portrait of the then president of Mahila Awami League, Ivy Rahman, who was among the 24 people killed in the gruesome attack, gets covered with flowers and people of all strata throng the party office to pay tributes to the victims yesterday. Focus Bangla, Star Mail and Independent Photos

Information Minister and Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday said BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia is also liable for the heinous 21st August grenade attack and she cannot avoid the liability.

“DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence) tried to investigate as per the statement of the DGFI officials. But, Khaleda Zia rebuked them. So, she is also liable for the attack,” he told reporters after placing wreaths at the memorial erected on the spot of the occurrence at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.

Terming the incident as a dreadful one, the minister said the then BNP government rebuked a DGFI official and police officials who wanted to investigate the heinous attack.

After the attack on that day, he said, police lobbed tear gas and resorted to lathi charge on AL leaders and workers instead of rescuing the dead and the injured persons. “The aim of this action was to allow attackers to flee without any hindrance,” he added.

Instead of tracking down the real culprits, the BNP-Jamaat government staged the “Joj Mian drama with an innocent village man” to divert the incident to other direction, Dr Hasan said.

He said BNP-Jamaat clique is hatching conspiracy to turn Bangladesh into a militant state. The minister urged all to remain alert against the conspirators.