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Hand of admin in August 21 attack

CID mentions in charge sheet but makes no effort to dig into it

Julfikar Ali Manik
Despite hints in the charge sheet that administration under the BNP-Jamaat alliance might have aided and abetted the August 21 grenade blasts, no investigation has been done along that line.
The 41-page charge sheet submitted 15 months back suggests that Abdus Salam Pintu, a former BNP deputy minister. had assured Huji leaders of administrative help in carrying out the attack to kill Sheikh Hasina.
He gave the assurance at a meeting at his residence three days before tire blasts that left 23 people killed and over 300 injured at an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in 2004.
The charge sheet however does not elaborate on the finding which crime experts say surely warrants further probe.
Investigation from this angle, the experts believe, might help unmask the masterminds behind the August 21 carnage.
Ending a long drama over enquiry into the attack, Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges against 21 leaders and activists of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami and Salam Pintu on June 9 last year.
After AL-led grand alliance came to power in January, the prosecution prayed for further investigation to unearth the sources and supplier of the grenades used in the attack.
The court granted permission for more probe, and CID's Abdul Kahar Akand has been assigned to do the job.
ASM Shahjahan, former caretaker government adviser who also served as inspector general of police, told The Daily Star, “If the investigation officer thinks the point (mentioned in the charge sheet) should be probed, he can do it by informing the court or taking permission from it."
He can seek to find out what the charge sheet means by "administrative support" and if anyone did lend administrative support to the attackers, Shahjahan added.
According to the charge sheet, ®he JBailu ^ar
Moulana Abu Taher, president of Dhaka city Huji, took fellow Huji leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan and Ahsan Ullah Kajal to the then deputy minister Pintu's Dhanmondi house to discuss the plot.
Pintu's brother Moulana Tajuddin. an absconding accused in August 21 case, was also present at the meeting where Pintu said Hasina has to be killed.
Pledging funds and manpower, he said “prosashonik sohaiota" (administrative support) too would be given to pull off the plot.
Anisul Huq, an expert on criminal laws, told The Daily Star, the extent of the then government's involvement in the ghastly attack may be known if the investigators could make out the ex-deputy minister's expression “proshashonik shohaiota".
The expression suggests the administration had either sought to make the attack successful or shield the masterminds and perpetrators from investigation.
The dubious role of police and intelligence personnel at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21 supports that kind ofthinking.
Citing Kasina's statement to the investigation officer, the charge sheet said members of the Special Branch fired a few rounds to counter the attack, but the DMP team assigned to ensure her security did nothing.
The police men on duty were rather hampering her retreat from the scene. They were firing tear gas shells and bullets as her SUV was head-ing towards Zero Point through the road on west side ofthe Outer Stadium.
Some experts and analysts say the words “administrative help" can be interpreted in many ways.
It is significant when a minister speaks of providing administrative help.
It adds weight to AL's allegations that some influential people in the then government had a hand in the blasts.
Besides the controversial role of the law enforcers during and before the attack, there is the issue of attempts to prevent a fair investigation in the August 21 blasts case.
Three CID officials including two former IOs face criminal charges for misleading the probe.
Experts say the investigators should see if the bid to divert the course of investigation was part of the administrative help Pintu had pledged to the Huji top brass.
Following a probe under supervision of Lutfozzaman Babar, state minister for home at that time, police arrested 20 people including Shaibal Saha Partha, a student, and AL leader Mokhlesur Rahman for suspected links to the bloodbath.
I lowever, none of them who had to endure harassment and torture was found guilty in the latest investigation.
The farce over August 21 probe culminated in the BNP-Jamaat-led government claiming that a criminal gang had staged the attack.
The basis of their claim was so-called confession of Joj Miah, Abul Hashem alias Rima andShafiquI Islam.
Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker administration later found those confessional statements to have been obtained under duress.
Moreover, the CID investigators and supervising officer concerned were found to have paid Joj Miah's family for the statement.
The one-member judicial probe committee of Justice Joynul Abedin went as far as to see a “foreign enemy country's involvement" in the incident.
The charge sheet however has nothing to bear out his claim.
Speaking about the charge sheet at a press briefing in June last year, the then CID Chief Additional Inspector General Jabed Patwari said Huji carried out the attack to kill Hasina as it believed she would harm Islam if alive and in power.
Except Salam Pintu, all accused are Huji leaders and activists.
Pintu has been included as an accused in the charge sheet as he met the attackers twice at his residence to discuss the blasts plan.
Contacted, the third IO of the case who pressed the charges declined to talk about the matter.