Day when govt turned terrorist

On August 21, 2004, our government became a terrorist organisation. In what followed, the state itself became accessory to that terrorist act. Some rogue elements may have thrown the grenades but when all the branches of the state—the executive, the judiciary and the legislative—collectively worked to save the criminals and divert attention elsewhere then the state itself became complicit. What was most disconcerting is that the type of grenades used in the attack showed that inroads had been made into the army itself.

We agree with the prime minister when she says that such an attack in broad daylight couldn't have happened without the support of the government of the time. The destruction of the evidence, the lack of seriousness in investigating the crime and the political effort to downplay the tragedy all indicate complicity of the government and the ruling coalition.

The attempted assassination of Sheikh Hasina dealt a severe blow to the prospect of democracy-building in Bangladesh. The two-party system—the AL and BNP alternating in power—which should have been a boon for a stable democracy, became  a life and death contest for eliminating each other, not through public support but through violence as BNP-Jamaat's actions proved. The two parties, always bitter contestants for power, now became bitter enemies with the incumbent ready to resort to political assassinations to stay in power.

What could have driven the BNP leadership of the time to choose to kill their political opponent? A total disregard for democracy and constitutional politics. Nothing reveals their lack of commitment to democracy better than this incident. Whatever their protestations may be, the so-called debates in the parliament, the sham of a one-member judicial inquiry commission, and the repeated government assertions that the attack was due to internal factors within Awami League proved beyond doubt that the BNP-Jamaat government of the day had no intention to unearth what really happened, let alone dispense justice.

It happened 17 years ago. But its impact still reverberates in our politics. After the brutal killing of Bangabandhu and the killing of the four national leaders in jail, the August 21 grenade carnage, in which 23 AL leaders and activists died, including Ivy Rahman, wife of veteran AL leader and the future President, Zillur Rahman, remains as the most tragic example of politics of killings and assassination. It is truly a miracle that saved the present prime minister and the then opposition leader's life.

   We must never allow the events of August 21 to ever occur again, and we must learn from that experience to strengthen our democracy.