21 Aug attack wouldn't be possible without govt's direct patronage: Sheikh Hasina
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said it was not possible to carry out an attack like that of 21 August 2004 had there been no direct patronage from the BNP-Jamaat government, reports UNB.
"They (BNP-Jamaat govt) thought that I had been killed (in the grenade attack), but when they came to know that I hadn't died, they allowed four criminals to flee the country," she said.
She said the BNP-Jamaat government at the time assembled the terrorists and militants to carry out such an attack and gave them a safe passage abroad.
Sheikh Hasina made this allegation while addressing a discussion marking the 21 August 2004 grenade attack.
Awami League organised the event at its Bangabandhu Avenue central office. The prime minister attended the event virtually from her official residence Gonobhaban.
"No one could imagine that there would be an Arges grenade attack (on the rally) in broad daylight with the intent to kill," she said.
Recalling the barbaric carnage, Sheikh Hasina alleged that prime minister at the time, Khaleda Zia, and her government staged the grenade attack as killing is their habit.
After the attack, she said, police lobbed teargas shells and charged the AL leaders and workers with batons instead of rescuing the victims.
Hasina said even BNP-Jamaat-backed physicians did not attend the injured AL leaders and activists at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and no patient was allowed to enter Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Medical University.