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AUGUST 21 ATTACK

AL bins home report of non-cooperation

SHAKHAWAT LIToN
A home ministry report on the August 21 grenade blasts placed a parliamentary body meeting repeatedly accused the Awami League (AL) of not co-operating with the
probe, but AL lawmakers termed the report 'bogus'.
Placed at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry yesterday, the report claimed that the investigators have made adequate progress in the
probe.
Rubbishing the report, AL lawmakers demanded international probe into the carnage that had left 23 of their fellow party men dead and scores injured. The report said it is learnt that the experts of Interpol have sent a report of the laboratory tests of the evidence they had gathered from Bangabandhu Avenue, the scene of the carnage.
The Interpol experts visited Dhaka in January this year and returned with video footages and splinter, levers, and pins of the grenades that were hurled onto the rally of the opposition party.
"The packet is now in the custody of customs authorities and a process is on to have it released," meeting sources said quoting the report. "It will be very helpful to the investigation into the case," the report reads.
The five-page report focused mainly on the situation following the blasts, the government measures, FBI and Interpol officers' visits, and Mia's confession to having been involved in the attacks on AL rally.
The report mentioned the arrest of George Mia and his confessional statement describing in detail the attacks as progress made in the case.
It said most of the people whose names came up in the investigation as accused had fled to a neighbouring country. "We have sought assistance from the Interpol in arresting the suspects and also requested the international police organisation to issue a red notice," the report says.
"Besides, the law enforcers are still on a massive manhunt for the accused who might be holed up inside the country," adds the report.
In the report, it has been suggested for several times that no shooting took place on Bangabandhu Avenue on that day.
"The autopsies on the casualties of the carnage revealed that all of them had died from the wounds sustained in grenade blasts. None of the bodies bore marks of bullet injury though some quarters claim that some of the victims died after being hit by bullet," the report says.
Submitted by the inspector general of police, the report described the situation immediately after the blasts. It said the entire area plunged into anarchy, forcing the police to use tear gas to disperse the mob. Still the mob took over the entire area and started vandalising vehicles and public properties. They even went on to assault the law enforcers, hampering severely the efforts to catch the perpetrators.
But the AL lawmakers rejected the claim and said there was no anarchy or any such situation.
"People were simply scared to death. They did not damage any vehicles and properties. No one in fact dared to run vehicles through the area after 18 or 20 grenades had gone off," AL lawmaker Mohammad Nasim said, rebutting the report.
"The law enforcers did not try to nab the perpetrators, rather they were busy baton-charging the opposition activists who were trying to rush the injured to hospitals and clinics," he added.
The report for as many as five times blamed the AL for not assisting in the investigation. It said the investigation officers repeatedly sought co-operation from the opposition leaders. "But none of them has assisted the investigation," it
alleges.
The government attaches high importance to the probe and has initiated steps to have on board the responsible and senior officers of different agencies to monitor the investigation and assist the investigation officer, said the report, adding that the intelligence agencies are probing the case on their own.
About the investigation by the FBI and Interpol officers, the report said they had examined the bulletproof jeep, which was used to carry the leader of the opposition out of the spot. On looking into the vehicle, they said verbally that the damage to the jeep had been caused by grenade shrapnel. The experts wanted to take into their custody the damaged parts of the jeep for ballistic and chemical tests, but they were not allowed.
"No other evidence or materials were observed, identified, collected, or submitted for examination that would indicate any type of explosive weapons or devices other [than] those identified in this report were used at or in close proximity to the incident site," the home ministry report said quoting from a report submitted by the Interpol experts.
In another report on the August 17 countrywide serial bomb blasts, the ministry described how the blasts were staged and the measures initiated by the government.
The report said intelligence agencies and police are out to hunt down the perpetrators and masterminds behind the near-simultaneous explosions.
DISCUSSION ON THE REPORTS The AL lawmakers yesterday blasted the home ministry and the government for their failure to arrest the culprits in the August 21 attacks even after a year since the incident.
"We do not have the least faith in the government-run investigation," AL lawmaker and committee member Mohammad Nasim told reporters after the meeting, reiterating the demand for international probe.
He described the home ministry's progress report as a chronicle of mockery in the name of investigation.
"If the government agrees to allow the international agencies full rein in probing the carnage, we will sit down to fix the terms of reference of the investigation," Nasim, also the former home minister, added.
The AL lawmakers also called for the report of one-member judicial probe commission to be placed before the committee at its next meeting.
Coming out of the meeting, State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar said all at the meeting have concluded that the investigations of the August 21 and 17 blasts should be completed.
Committee Chairman and ruling BNP lawmaker Prof Shajahan told the reporters that all the committee members have agreed to bring the perpetrators to book through investigations.
The AL lawmakers however said they gave a note of dissent against making any recommendation by the committee on the investigations into the August 17 and August 21 blasts.