DHAKA: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also incumbent Awami League president, on Thursday warned those, who tried time and again to subdue Bangalese, saying they will have no place in Bangla.

“The killers started conspiring against the country and its independence just after the liberation war. In an interview after killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members, killer Colonel Rashid and Colonel Faruk said that they had met Ziaur Rahman who inspired them,” She said.

Sheikh Hasina made the assertions while addressing a programme, arranged at AL central office at Bangabandhu Avenue on Thursday, in memory of the killed in a grenade attack on August 21, 2004.

The premier said, “On the other hand, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad was the quisling; he betrayed and helped the killers. The name of Bangladesh was changed from ‘The People’s Republic of Bangladesh’ to ‘Islamic Republic of Bangladesh’. But ultimately they failed.”

“They conspired against the Bangalese and never wanted this nation to speak with head held high,” she added.

“I thought Qiamat (the final day) had started when grenades started blasting on August 21. Late Hanif bhai and others made a human wall to protect me,” she recalled with a horror stricken face.

“In that chaos I lost my spectacle and couldn’t even see well. Guards and others helped me to get on the car; then the killers opened fire aiming me but my personal bodyguard Mahbub took the bullet and died on the spot, she added.

The premier also said that police charged batons and fired tear gas shells upon the rescuers who came to help the injured people after the attack that left at least 22 killed, including Ivy Rahman, wife of late President Zillur Rahman, and several hundred injured.

“The then BNP government had wiped away all evidences of that barbarous attack,” AL leader alleged.

The premier also alleged, “Even the BNP supporters’ doctors in Dhaka Medical College Hospital were absent when the injured were rushed there.”

On August 21, 2004, AL president Sheikh Hasina had been speaking at a public meeting at Bangabandhu Avenue, protesting blasts against the party’s workers in Sylhet.

As Hasina was approaching towards the end of her speech, a total of 13 grenades were thrown into the crowd from the rooftops of nearby buildings, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 200.

Among the dead were Hasina’s bodyguard Mahbub and Awami League Women’s Affairs Secretary Ivy Rahman.

BDST: 1925 HRS, AUG 21, 2014