Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday alleged that the then Khaleda Zia government, which was involved in gruesome activities, did not want to hand over the dead bodies of the August 21 grenade attack to their relatives.
“Not only they made killing attempts, but also carried out heinous activities with dead bodies after killings,” she said in her introductory speech at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting held at NEC Auditorium in the capital.
She joined the meeting virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
Talking about the 17th death anniversary of Ivy Rahman, former president of Bangladesh Mahila Awami League and wife of late president M Zillur Rahman, the premier said she was taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment.
Also Read - August 21 attack probe: US terror experts had bitter experience
“I don’t know when she [Ivy] died. Khaleda Zia had been there to see her. After her departure, Ivy Rahman was declared dead,” she recalled.
She mentioned that Ivy Rahman’s three children -- Papon (present BCB president), Tania and Moyna -- were kept under lock and key in a room for 3-4 hours while the then prime minister Khaleda Zia had been there.
Sheikh Hasina said the then BNP-Jamaat government also tried not to hand over the bodies of other deceased to their relatives.
“They would have concealed the dead bodies had they had that chance as the situation was like that,” she said.
Also Read - PM Hasina: BNP-Jamaat govt patronized August 21 grenade attack
Hasina said the party people had been there and they managed to hand over dead bodies to their relatives after working overnight.
From the very beginning, Hasina said, she was trying to help the families of the dead and injured.
“We’ve been helping them from the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust,” she said.
Ivy Rahman, also former president of Bangladesh Mahila Samity, received grievous injuries during the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in the city on August 21 in 2004 and succumbed to her injuries on August 24.
