The 17th anniversary of the deadly terror attack on an Awami League public rally on August 21 in 2004 was observed across the country.
The attack, targeting to kill the then opposition leader and now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other party leaders, was carried out during the role of BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped the attack but lost her hearing ability due to the impact of the repeated grenade blasts near the truck-dais of her public rally.
At least 24 leaders and workers of AL, its associate bodies including the then Mahila AL president Ivy Rahman, wife of late President Zillur Rahman, were killed and over 500 others suffered splinter injuries in the attack.
Those others killed in the barbaric grenade attack included the then opposition leader's personal security guard Lance Corporal (retd) Mahbubur Rashid, Abul Kalam Azad, Rezina Begum, Nasir Uddin Sardar, Atique Sarkar, Abdul Kuddus Patwari, Aminul Islam Moazzem, Belal Hossain, Mamun Mridha, Ratan Shikdar, Liton Munshi, Hasina Mamtaz Reena, Sufia Begum, Rafiqul Islam (Ada Chacha), Mostaque Ahmed Sentu, Md Hanif, Abul Kashem, Zahed Ali, Momen Ali, M Shamsuddin and Ishaque Miah.
Prominent among those who suffered serious splinter injuries included Sheikh Hasina, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzaque, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader, Advocate Sahara Khatun, Mohammad Hanif, Prof Abu Sayeed, and AFM Bahauddin Nasim.
Marking the anniversary, the ruling AL, its front and associate bodies and its left-leaning allies, and other political parties, social-cultural and professional organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes across the country, maintaining health guidelines in wake of the COVID-19 situation.
A discussion will be held at 10:30 am to recall the victims of the dreadful grenade attack.
Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting from Ganabhaban here through video conferencing.
As part of the programmes, AL, its associate bodies and other political bodies will place wreaths at the altar in front of the party's central office at Bangabandhu Avenue here.
Due to the pandemic, a limited number of programmes will be held to commemorate the day.
The nation's long wait seeking justice of the brutal grenade attack ended as a special court pronounced the verdict of a case filed over the attack on October 10, 2018.
The court awarded death sentence to 19 people including former Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and life imprisonment to 19 including ex-premier Khaleda Zia's fugitive son Tarique Rahman in connection with the grenade attack.
With the verdict pronounced by Dhaka's 1st Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Shahed Nur Uddin, the nation was freed from the stigma of committing the most shocking crime in political history.
BDST: 1242 HRS, AUG 21, 2021
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