4-party ministers were involved

Awami League lawmaker AFM Bahauddin Nasim yesterday testified to a Dhaka court that Hawa Bhaban and several ministers of the then BNP-led four-party government were involved in the grenade attack on August 21, 2004. 

He said the attack, on an AL rally on Bangabandhu Avenue, was solely aimed at killing his party president Sheikh Hasina, then opposition leader, and other leaders.

It killed 24 people, including senior AL leader Ivy Rahman.

BNP leader Tarique Rahman discussed the attack with militants at Hawa Bhaban, often called the then alternative powerhouse of the four-party alliance, while a minister met with militants at his government residence, he said.

The then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar was involved as an "instigator", Nasim said. He said several grenades exploded while he was listening to Hasina's address, protesting then government's "terrorism".

"I was also seriously injured in the grenade attack," Nasim said, adding he had hundreds of splinters lodged in the body. Later, he had most of them removed in New Delhi but still there are over 40 splinters inside his body, he said.

Nasim said he went to Motijheel Police Station to file a case on October 20, 2004 but it was recorded as a general diary. "I learned the grenade attack was state-sponsored."

Another victim, Kazi Shahanara Yeasmin, also testified. The Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 is set to resume hearings today.