19th Anniv of August 21 Grenade Attack on Monday

The Awami League anti-terrorist march in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, will be remembered on August 21 for the 19th time on Monday, August 21, 2014.

On this day in 2004, when the BNP-Jamaat coalition government was in power, a protest was attacked horrifyingly in front of the Awami League office on Bangabandhu Avenue.

Party officials and volunteers protected Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister and previous leader of the opposition.

Sheikh Hasina miraculously evaded the attack. Sheikh Hasina was the main target of the assailants, and her car was fired at with 12 rounds of ammunition while she was being quickly evacuated to a safer place.

However, the bullets could not penetrate the bulletproof vehicle carrying Bangabandhu's daughter. Immediately after the attack, Sheikh Hasina was cordoned off in a car and taken to her residence, Sudha Sadan, in Dhanmondi.

However, 24 people, including then-women affairs secretary of the Awami League and wife of late president Zillur Rahman, were killed and over 500 others were injured in the attack, with many of them becoming crippled for life.

The others killed in the attack included then-opposition leader's personal security guard Lance Corporal (retd) Mahbubur Rashid, Abul Kalam Azad, Rezina Begum, Nasir Uddin Sardar, Atique Sarkar, Abdul Kuddus Patwari, Aminul Islam Moazzem, Belal Hossain, Mamun Mridha, Ratan Shikdar, Liton Munshi, Hasina Mamtaz Reena, Sufia Begum, Rafiqul Islam, Mostaque Ahmed Sentu, Md Hanif, Abul Kashem, Zahed Ali, Momen Ali, M Shamsuddin and Ishaque Miah.

Prominent among those who suffered serious splinter injuries included Sheikh Hasina, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader, Advocate Sahara Khatun, Mohammad Hanif, Prof Abu Sayeed and AFM Bahauddin Nasim.

Fear and terror engulfed the entire capital after the grenade attack. Condemnation and grief of this massacre spread across the country and abroad as well.

After the attack, when Awami League leaders and activists were busy trying to save themselves and others, police charged the rally fiercely with batons and teargas. At the same time, all traces of the carnage were destroyed.

The BNP-Jamaat government even staged a “drama with Joj Mia” to cover up the incident with state sponsorship and direct support.

The ruling Awami League and its associate bodies as well as social-cultural and professional organizations have planned elaborate programs to mark the anniversary.

Tributes will be paid to the grenade attack martyrs by placing wreaths at the altar built in their memory in front of the party's Bangabandhu Avenue office at 10am. The Awami League will organize a discussion at its central office later.

At 5:21 p.m., the Awami Swechasebak League will commemorate the memory of the August 21 martyrs and perform a torchlight vigil. A debate and doa mahfil will be held by Krishak League.

Ivy Rahman, a previous president of the organization and one of the victims of the August 21 incident, will be remembered on August 23 during a talk hosted by the Mohila Awami League.

The Awami League, its Dhaka South and North chapters, and affiliated organizations will honor Ivy Rahman on August 24 by laying wreaths at her tomb in the Banani cemetery at 9am.

On the anniversary of Ivy Rahman's passing, the Jatiya Sramik League will organize a memorial gathering in the Tejgaon Industrial Area at 3 o'clock.