Hasina accuses previous BNP regime of involvement in Bombings

Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina has charged the previous BNP-led government of her arch-rival Khaleda Zia with involvement in "all grenade and bomb attacks" that took place during its rule, including the August 2004 strike on her party's rally that left 24 people dead.

Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina has charged the previous BNP-led government of her arch-rival Khaleda Zia with involvement in "all grenade and bomb attacks" that took place during its rule, including the August 2004 strike on her party's rally that left 24 people dead.

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"Our government will bring to book all involved or behind-the-scenes instigators of the grenade attacks and killings. We will ensure their punishment, no matter how powerful they are," Hasina, also the chief of the ruling Awami League party, was quoted as saying by 'New Age' paper.

Her remarks came yesterday on the fifth anniversary of the deadly grenade attack on the Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 that left 24 people, including the party's women's affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, dead and more than 300 wounded.

Recalling her brush with death that day, she pledged to root out militancy and corruption from the society.

Hasina warned that those who had created and harboured militancy were still active and hatching conspiracies to destroy the non-communal and democratic values of the nation. She urged the countrymen to be vigilant against conspiracies and remain united to "free Bangladesh of murderers."

She charged that politics of killing and repression here began during the rule of Gen Ziaur Rahman, Zia's husband, and "whenever his family members come to power, such attacks are mounted on peace-loving and democratic forces."