BNP smells 'AL involvement' in Aug 21 attack

BNP senior leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Wednesday said there is a question in public mind whether Awami League had 'involvement' with the blueprint of the August-21 grenade attack, reports UNB.

"Everybody knows the fact. It (August-21 attack) was part of a deep-rooted blueprint. People have doubt whether the ruling party (AL) had involvement with it. A question has arisen in public mind about it," he said.

Rizvi, BNP senior joint secretary general, came up with the remarks while speaking at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

The nation is observing the 15th anniversary of the savage August-21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in the city that killed at least 24 leaders and activists of the party and injured 300 others.

A Dhaka court on October 10 last year sentenced 19 people, including the then BNP-led government's state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, to death.

Nineteen people, including Tarique Rahman, the exiled eldest son of jailed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and the party's current acting chairman, were also sentenced to life in prison in the case.

Rizvi claimed that the investigation into the grenade attack case was not fair and impartial.

"The neutral investigation was obstructed, and we repeatedly talked about it in the past," he said.