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Venue aspect of Aug 21 to solve some puzzles

Charge sheet says decision taken 'centrally' but skips detailing the info

Julfikar Ali Manik
The charge sheet in the August 21 grenade blasts case points to a meticulous plot to kill the then opposition chief Sheikh Hasina. but clears up no questions along that line.
The charge sheet submitted on June 9 last year does not explain if the attackers knew about the venue before Awami League on August 20 announced that it would hold the rally at Bangabandhu Avenue.
AL sought the government's permis-
sion to use Muktangan for the rally a week before August 21. But as it did not get any response even on August 20, it decided to settle for Bangabandhu Avenue.
The decision was published in the newspapers the following day.
Security experts say the August 21 blasts where Arges grenades, weapons exclusive to military, were used ensure severe casualties could not be staged without long and elaborate preparations.
So the perpetrators might have learned about the venue well before the AL announcement and prepared accord-
ingly
Huji cadres infiltrating AL might have got the information forthem.
Experts say the investigators should find out when the planners and perpetrators learned that Bangabandhu Avenue would be the venue.
They should also seek to know whether thp conspirators knew that AL would opt for Bangabandhu Avenue in the event of not getting permission to use Muktangan.
This raises the question whether the
SEE PAGE 15 COL 1 FROM PAGE 1 administration's not allowing Muktangan as the venue was part of the conspiracy.
The charge sheet fails to elaborate on several vital points like this.
It only gives a summary of a couple of meetings between Huji leaders and the then deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu just days before the blasts.
It says Abu Taher. then president of Dhaka city Huji. met Mufti Abdul Hannan, prime accused and top leader of Huji. and Ahsanullah Kajal, organising secretary of the outfit's Dhaka city unit, near Mohammadpur Supermarket in the capital, on August 18.
There. Taher informed the other two that the decision to launch the attack had been taken “centrally". He also briefed them about a meeting with Salam Pintu.
After this meeting. Taher took Hannan and Kajal to Pintu's house in Dhanmondi for further discussions on the plot
The charge sheet gives an obvious pointer that the decision to kill Hasina was taken at a central forum of an organisation. but it does go into detail.
It does not mention who might be these "central leaders’ involved in decisionmaking regarding the August 21 carnage.
It all means the investigators did not bother to follow up that clue that experts say is serious enough to call for further probe.
They also did not seek answers to questions like who initiated the plot and where it was decided to kill Hasina and
other AL leaders though it all are crucial to tracking down the masterminds.
Anisul Huq. a criminal law expert, told The Daily Star. “Getting to the root of this plot is important to put an end to all such conspiracies '
The investigators must haul in the conspirators if there's any still at large, he added.
ASM Shahjahan. former caretaker government adviser and ex-inspector general of police, said if there were flaws in the previous probe, the new investigation officer can seek to find and plug those.
He said since section 120(B) of the penal code has been included in the charge sheet, it is now mandatory to prove conspiracy in the case.
The third IO of the case who pressed the charges described the conspiracy by mentioning a few meetings between the accused on August 18,19,20and21.
It gives the impression that it took only a few meetings a few days before August 21 to stage such an attack.
Security experts opine that the August 21 blasts could not be an act of petty criminals. It was rather a deftly laid out plot executed.
Some analysts suspect the involvement of a clique of influential people, while the charge sheet confines itself to describing discussions among Huji leaders and Salam Pintu.
It repeatedly quotes Huji members talking about attacking the AL rally on August 21 to kill Hasina. but it does not mention if they knew about the venue.