BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman has come up with new claims that Sheikh Hasina knew everything about the August 21 attack on her party’s rally and that she is now surrounded by those who masterminded the assassination of her father.
At a programme in London on Sunday, he said: “No one but Hasina herself is responsible for the attack and deaths [from the grenade attack] because she was aware of the attack and let it happen.
“She knew about the attack. That is why she had shifted the rally’s venue. Why did she shift the scheduled rally to Bangabandhu Avenue from Muktangan just one and a half hours before the rally was set to start?”
Tarique, who has been in London for more than five years and faces several cases in Bangladesh, was addressing a seminar titled “Strategies for Prosperous Bangladesh” at Queen Mary University.
He said every inch of the venue of the Awami League rally had been checked by the law enforcement agencies but all on a sudden Hasina decided to hold the programme in front of the party office.
“Is it possible to ensure security of a venue within such short time? Let me ask, who has the power to shift the venue of a programme? Definitely the venue was changed as per Hasina’s decision. So, who is responsible?” he said.
Tarique, the eldest son of BNP chief Khaleda Zia, claimed that Hasina had repeatedly requested Ivy Rahman, wife of the late president Zillur Rahman, to get on the truck – the makeshift stage for the rally.
“Why did she repeatedly request Ivy to get on the truck? Did she know anything? Definitely she knew something. Did the probe committee ever question Sheikh Hasina?
“I want to request the judges to ask Hasina why the venue had been shifted,” said Tarique.
Referring to Quader Siddiqui’s speech in parliament on September 15, 2004, Tarique said Siddiqui had also questioned the venue shift without any notice. Tarique claimed that his claim was authentic and many others had also questioned the sudden change of decision. He suggested checking media reports of that time.
The BNP leader’s claim is a distortion of facts because the Awami League had to change its rally venue since it had not got the permission to hold it at Muktangan.
Tarique has often presented distorted information since the January 5 election. He once said BNP founder Ziaur Rahman was the first president of Bangladesh.
The BNP leader said the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975 was a condemnable incident. “But what do we see today?”
He said Sheikh Mujib had been scheduled to go to Dhaka University on August 15, 1975, but a party had created some chaos to prevent his visit. “Today we have to observe who Sheikh Hasina is now surrounded by and who were those people that had caused the unrest on that day.
“A number of Awami League leader said at that time that Sheikh Mujib was a dictator. Those very people are now at Hasina’s side,” said Tarique.
Referring to a write-up by Quader Siddiqui, he said: “On August 14, Sheikh Mujib himself ordered to position three tanks...to protect himself from the conspiracy of [Hasanul Haque] Inu, that is JaSaD. So, the tanks took position upon Mujib’s instructions. If we now ask: ‘Why had Sheikh Mujib been compelled to give such order?’
“Those who had created the chaotic situation at that time are now around Sheikh Hasina. Some of them are very close and trustworthy to Sheikh Hasina right now.”
Again referring to a book, this time one by Mohiuddin Ahmed, Tarique said on August 15, 1975 morning a Gono Bahini meeting had been held at Dhaka University where Col Abu Taher’s brother Anwar said Taher had visited the radio station in the morning and scolded Maj Sharful Haque Dalim. “Do you know who exploded bombs in the university yesterday? Those were my boys,” Taher told Dalim as claimed by Tarique.
“I think the role of Inu Bahini on the morning of August 15 should be clarified,” Tarique said.
Countering ruling Awami League leaders’ claim that Ziaur Rahman had been involved with the assassination of Bangabandhu, Tarique said they had been propagating against Zia to hide their failures and misdeeds.
“The BNP was not yet formed when Mujib was killed. Who formed the government at that time? Khandakar Mushtaque, who was known as close to Mujib, and some Awami League leaders formed the government and took oath. HT Imam was the cabinet secretary. Ask him...it would be clear who were present at that time.
“Col Taher was present at the time of Mushtaque’s swearing-in. Not only Taher, Inu and Menon were also present in Bangabhaban at the ceremony,” said Tarique.
He alleged that Hasina had compromised with the killers and masterminds of her father’s assassination just to cling to power and for her greed of power.
Tarique termed Hasina the leader of black sheep as she had called Khandakar Mushtaque a black sheep. “Today we see all those masterminds of Mujib killing beside Sheikh Hasina. So can we not say the Awami League is a party of kulangars [black sheep] and Sheikh Hasina is the leader of kulangars?”
Referring to a book by Abul Monsur Ahmed, the BNP leader said Sheikh Mujib had killed the then deputy speaker Sahed Ali. However, such information could not be found in the book.
