Aug 21 Attacks Abused State Machinery: Quader

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Saturday the state machinery was abused under an orchestrated plan in launching the gruesome grenade attacks on August 21, 2004.

''In continuation of the August 15 (1975) carnage, the grenade attacks were carried out in a planned way to assassinate Deshratna Sheikh Hasina,'' he told a regular view exchange with Rajshahi road zone officials through videoconferencing from his official residence on parliament premises.

Quader, also Awami League general secretary, said BNP is now out to distort the incident of August 21 grenade attacks, which is clear as daylight, by terming it an accident.

He said various documents and statements of Mufti Hannan, the kingpin of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, revealed who perpetrated the grisly attacks and who held meetings to lunch it.

The attacks were carried out under the directives from Hawa Bhaban, the alternative powerhouse of the then BNP government, and BNP’s top leadership knew everything about the blueprint, he added.