Senior journalist leaders at a meeting have demanded speeding up the implementation of the trial court’s verdict of the August 21 grenade attack case.
They condemned the incident and said the August 21 grenade attack was carried out at an anti-terrorism rally organized by the then-opposition Awami League (AL) in 2004. At the rally, to kill the AL president and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in front of its central office in Bangabandhu Avenue the grenade attack happens.
The attack left 24 people, including Awami League leader Ivy Rahman, killed and many AL leaders and activists, journalists injured.
They said the senior leaders of the then BNP-Jammat alliance government were behind the incident. Journalist leaders said that the perpetrators also tried to destroy all the evidence quickly and to divert the attack on different direction.
They told this while addressing a meeting organised by Muktijuddher Chetonay Sangbadik Forum at National Press Club in the capital on Monday, marking the 19th anniversary of the August 21 grenade attack.
They demanded to expedite the implementation of the court’s verdict against the convicts, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar of the case. The leaders also observed one-minute silence in respect of the August 21 grenade attack victims.
Among others, president of the forum Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury presided over the meeting while Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) president Omar Faruk, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) president Sohel Haider, general secretary Akhter Hosen, National Press Club President Farida Yasmin and general secretary Shyamal Dutta, former BFUJ president Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Molla Jalal, former BFUJ secretary general Abul Kalam Azad, and Abdul Jalil Bhuyian, former DUJ President Abu Jafar Surja, former DUJ general secretary Sajjad Alam Tapu, former Press Club President Shafiqur Rahman, Saiful Alam, former general secretary Swapan Saha were present.
