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Sunday, August 21, 2011
21 AUGUST
Haunted forever
Survivors of grisly Aug 21 attack live on with grenade splinters in their body
An unexploded grenade on Bangabandhu Avenue surrounded by victims of the horrifying attack on August 21, 2004. inset (from left), Titu; MuktiPhoto: File PhotoHasan Jahid Tusher and Rakib Ahammed
Seven years after the grenade attack on an Awami League rally, survivor Abdul Matin, who had been paralysed for some time, wants to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ask for a job.
Today is the seventh anniversary of the horrific grenade attack on Bangabandhu Avenue which was apparently carried out to assassinate Hasina, then opposition leader. Twenty-four people died in the attack including Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman. The attack also left scores of people injured who now have to live with the scars.
Matin was partially paralysed after the attack in 2004.
One of the many splinters he carries in his body today had entered his head and left the right side of his body inactive.
He lost his salesman job at a shop and has been unemployed ever since due to his physical inability. Now he can walk but with great difficulty.
Hailing from Barguna, the forty-year-old reached Dhaka on Friday. This is the first time Matin is going to attend any programme in Dhaka commemorating the August 21 attack.
He wants an audience with the prime minister. He wants to stand on his own feet again, earn for his food and treatment since he is regaining senses in the right side of his body.
"I can only move slightly but I cannot do much with this movement. I need help of others even if I want to get on a bus," the Awami League activist told The Daily Star yesterday.
"I have no job now…" he said, adding, "I need a job now to survive." He received Tk 25,000 in last two and a half years from the government for treatment but he has to spend Tk 750 a month for pills alone.
On that fateful day, Matin was listening to Hasina at the rally. He heard the sound of a huge blast and within seconds he heard a number of similar bangs. "Suddenly, I understood that something had hit me on the head and then I lost consciousness. I can't remember anything else but then I regained senses at Dhaka Medical College Hospital several hours later," Matin recalled.
Stories of many other survivors of the August 21, 2004, attack are not different from Matin's. Many survivors still suffer from various physical and mental complications. The Daily Star talked to several of them to know how they are passing their days now.
With around 200 splinters inside his body, Mohammad Mukti Mamun, a survivor and Jubo League leader from Bashabo, cannot walk for a few minutes. The excruciating pain stops him.
"I have to take medicine every day, otherwise the splinters inside my body start itching," said Mukti, who was on the southern end of the dais for speakers.
"I could not stand up and I got frightened seeing all the blood coming out of my body," Mukti recalled. He was rushed to DMCH after the attack and later moved to a private hospital.
Kazi Jamir Uddin Siddique Titu has another problem. He cannot sleep well. Nightmares haunt him.
"I often wake up at night having nightmares of the incident...I have been living with around 50 splinters inside my body, mainly in the back and left chest," Titu of Brahmanbaria said.
He cannot even offer his prayers the usual way. He has to pray sitting on a chair since he still feels the pain.
His doctor asked him not to climb more than a few flights of stairs. He is now in Dhaka to join the August 21 commemoration programme.
However, Mukti and Titu are pleased with the supplementary charge sheet submitted in the cases filed in connection with the attack. They want exemplary punishment for the masterminds and others involved.
CHARGE SHEET & TRIAL
The Criminal Investigation Department on July 3 submitted supplementary charge sheets including BNP chief Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, Khaleda's political secretary Harris Chowdhury and Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and 30 others in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
According to the charge sheet, Hawa Bhaban, former political office of Khaleda Zia which was considered a BNP power house, different militant organisations and a number of people from the administration had collaborated in the planning and execution of the grisly attack.
The Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on August 16 this year transferred the supplementary charge sheets of the murder case to the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka for trial.
Two cases were filed in connection with the attack, one for murder and the other was filed under Explosive Substances Act.
PROGRAMMES
The Awami League has plans for two days of programmes to observe the seventh anniversary of the grenade attack.
It will begin with placing of wreaths at the memorial plaque in front of the Awami League central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in honour of the deceased leaders and workers at 11:00am today.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will exchange views with family members of those killed and the survivors at Gono Bhaban at 5:00pm. A discussion will also be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital at 3:00pm tomorrow with Awami League chief Hasina as the chief guest.
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam urged all to observe the day and attend the discussion programme.
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