Founder head of Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HUJI-B) Sheikh Abdus Salam has confessed to his involvement in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on Awami League (AL) rally in Dhaka, the Daily Star reported on Dec 5.
Making his confessions in Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s court, Salam disclosed names of a number of top BNP leaders who were involved in the gruesome attack that left 24 AL leaders killed and more than 300 injured. Sheikh Hasina was also severely injured in the attack.
He revealed that the plan to assassinate Hasina at the August rally was hatched at a secret meeting in Dhaka held at the residence of the then BNP Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu. Pintu’s fugitive brother and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) leader Maulana Tajuddin, a BNP State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, HuJI commander Mufti Abdul Hannan and other influential persons attended the meeting besides Salim. Most of these leaders are now cooling their heels in jail.
According to Salim, on his return from Afghanistan, he floated HUJI-B along with fellow Afghan veterans.
Earlier a CID investigator told the court (Dec 3) that former BNP ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu had assisted HUJI-B in its attempt to kill Hasina on Aug 21, 2004. Babar and Pintu helped Maulana Tajuddin, who supplied grenades for the attack. The LeT leader has since fled Bangladesh and has taken shelter in Pakistan, Dhaka daily, The Independent, reported.
PROSECUTION –HUJI-B
On Dec 8, a Jessore court granted a seven-day remand for HUJI-B commander Mufti Abdul Hannan in Udichi bomb blast case. He was arrested soon after HUJI was banned (Oct 01, 2005) under pressure from the western and donor countries. A year later in November, he was booked in the Udichi carnage case. On March 6, 1999, a cultural program organized by Udichi Shilpi Goshthi, a well known cultural group, organised a cultural programme at the Jessore Town Hall on March 6, 1999. Militants attacked the programme with bombs and the attack resulted in 10 deaths and injuries to over 100.
PROSECUTION –LeT
On Dec 3, a Dhaka court sent LeT activist Abdul Majid Butt alias Abu Yusuf Butt on a two-day fresh remand for aiding HUJI-B in the attack on the AL rally in 2004 with the intention of killing Sheikh Hasina.
Yusuf came to Bangladesh in 2004 with the help of local LeT leader Maulana Tajuddin and carried on militant activities as Abdul Majid, according to a report in The Daily Star on Dec 5.
Jamaat-e-Ahle Hadith
On Dec 7, Jamaat-e-Ahle Hadith Secretary General Rezaul Karim was placed on a 3-day remand. He is charged with threatening Attorney General Mahbubey Alam for taking a tough stand during the Mujib murder trial case in the Supreme Court.
Headed by Prof. Abdullah al Galib, the Jamaat-e-Ahle Hadith is linked to Ahle Hadith Madrassa and Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.
