Editorial
Six years after 21 August 2004
It is time for justice to be done
Six years after the carnage of 21 August 2004, the nation is yet to know the full, unadulterated truth behind the conspiracy which claimed the lives of 24 people and left more than 200 others severely wounded at a rally of the Awami League. Among the dead were the prominent AL politician Ivy Rahman. It was a tragedy which left the nation in a state of the deepest shock. It was expected that the government of the day, led by the BNP, would move swiftly and professionally to unmask those responsible for the grenade blasts. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort was done. What was done, as was clear at the time, was a despicable attempt to cover up the whole conspiracy through measures that left no one convinced the government was sincere in its actions.
We are happy to be reassured by the present investigating officer of the case that the masterminds behind the grenade blasts of 21 August 2004 will be found. The reopening of the investigation, which has meant filing charges against several individuals already, is a move that should lead to a logical and convincing conclusion in the interest of the rule of law. We cannot but recapitulate here the incredible tales which were given out within days of the blasts by those in power at the time. The then ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in an act that was as disgusting as it was outrageous, quickly blamed the opposition Awami League for the blasts at its own rally! And that was not all. Where an incident of such a devastating nature called for a preservation of evidence at the scene of the crime, the authorities quickly made sure that the spot where the explosions occurred was washed clean and everything removed from there. No effort was made to inquire into the sources of the Arges grenades used in the explosions. Some grenades that did not explode simply vanished. That the inquiry was a farce was made all the clearer when the authorities found a scapegoat in Joge Mia by letting it be known that he had exploded the grenades! The farce went on when a one-man inquiry commission headed by Justice Joynul Abedin concluded, in just forty days, that a foreign hand was involved in the attack on the Awami League rally.
That is the shame the nation has lived with. It is now time to unearth the entire truth behind the 21 August tragedy. If the authorities have identified the masterminds behind the explosions, let them act quickly in the interest of justice. The principle of rule of law and indeed the interests of the state demand that anyone and everyone involved in the crime, whoever and however highly he or she may have been placed, be punished for their acts. It should also be a necessary part of the current investigations to take to task those who earlier submitted false or imaginary inquiry reports on the tragedy. The same holds true of those who, in authority, made a mockery of governance by blaming the opposition for the carnage. They have caused grave damage to the country and they must therefore answer to the country.
Let the tragedy and its aftermath be wrapped up through a proper, normal turning of the wheels of justice. We have waited six long years for the truth. Let the truth now emerge.
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