Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said that the August 21 grenade attack was carried out with direct patronisation of then BNP-Jammat government to kill her and wipe out the top leadership of her Awami League party 18 years ago.

“Without having any government patronisation, this kind of heinous attack could not have taken place,” the premier said. “The target was to kill me and wipe out the Awami League.”

She was addressing a discussion marking the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an anti-terrorism rally organised by then opposition Awami League in front of its central office on Bangabandhu Avenue.

The attack left 24 people killed and about 300 injured, but Hasina, then opposition leader, luckily escaped death.

Hasina revealed that Rashid and Dalim, two of the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had returned to Bangladesh and were involved in the plot to kill her and her party’s leadership.

She said that then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia helped the two killers leave the country after the carnage, one of the worst such political violence in the history of Bangladesh.

“This is the reality. Many know that Dalim and Rashid were in Dhaka. I don’t know whether all people are aware of this or not. They have their relatives, you can know that easily,” she said.

She mentioned that when they found out that she did not die in the attack, they fled the country.

“Who brought them here unless the then BNP government had not taken the initiative? They came and they went away,” she said.

She apprehended that more attacks on her are being planned and she knows that she has danger in her every step.

“Killing is the character of BNP and now we have to sit with them and provide them hospitality so that they come to the election. Why? I don’t understand. Are there no other people in Bangladesh?,” she questioned.

Sheikh Hasina, chief of Awami League, said that BNP shed crocodile tears in front of the foreigners at that time so they could cash in some benefits by faking sympathy.

She said the people of Bangladesh must choose now from between the politics of terrorism and the path of development.

“The people will have to decide whether they want to return to the era of terrorism or stay firm on the current path of development,” she said.

Earlier, the prime minister paid tributes to the memory of those killed in the gruesome grenade attack by laying a wreath at the makeshift memorial erected at scene of the carnage.

She shared her pains with the relatives who lost their loved ones and also with those who have been living a painful life with injuries from grenade splinters.

One-minute silence was observed in memory of the victims before offering prayers for the salvation of the departed souls.

Read: 18th anniversary of August 21 grenade attack today

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader also spoke at the event.

Hasina recalled the painful days she and her sister Sheikh Rehana passed abroad in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975. She slammed then Foreign Minister Dr Kamal Hossain's behaviour with them.

She said on August 16 morning they met Dr Kamal Hossain in Bonn, Germany at the residence of then Bangladesh ambassador Humayun Rashid Chowdhury.

“Rehana holding his (Kamal's) hands cried and requested to protest the killing. Rehana told him you are the foreign minister. But he did not do that. Even he did not bother to inquire about our wellbeings later,” she said.

She said that in 1980, Rehana found him purchasing sweetmeats and asked him why there was no protest of the killing as there were so many people like him.

“This is our history," she said about their tragedy.

Hasina said that people voted Awami League in power in 2008, 2014 and 2018 elections.

She alkeged that a section of people wanted to make those elections questionable.

“Those who wanted to make those elections questionable I will ask them to find how Zia, Ershad and Khaleda Zia tainted elections. Let them probe how was the election in 2001. How many people could cast their votes?, she wondered.

She said that how will the (BNP) participate in the election when it does not have any leader at all.

“One is convicted another is fugitive from law. How will they participate in the election and who is going to vote for them? The question is who is the leader (of BNP) for the people to see and vote?" the premier once again said in attacking the opposition party

She said that conspiracies are in plenty as election is coming nearer. “But I have confidence on the people of this country.”

Sheikh Hasina reiterated that the Ukraine War and sanctions- counter sanctions have created crisis around the world and all including the people of Bangladesh are suffering.

She renewed her call to the people to exercise austerity in using electricity and gas and at the same time increase production of foodgrains and other essentials in the country to face the situation.

She later along with AL general secretary placed another wreath at the makeshift monument on behalf of the party.

On this day in 2004, a grisly attack was carried out on an anti-terrorism rally of Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue when the BNP-Jamaat alliance was in power. The then opposition leader and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the main target.

At least 24 leaders and activists, including Awami League women affairs secretary and late President Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman, were killed and 300 others injured. Hasina narrowly escaped the attack but her hearing ability was badly damaged.