Tarique will return to Bangladesh very soon: Mirza Abbas
The 21 August grenade attack was orchestrated by a foreign force in an attempt to frame Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, says the senior BNP leader
The BNP's Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman will return to the country soon in good health, said Mirza Abbas, the party's standing committee member, today (1 December).
"Our acting chairperson, who is now living abroad, was arrested and subjected to severe torture. We were in the prison at Chawkbazar at the same time. He was taken away from the rest of us. When he was brought back, he could no longer walk or move around," Abbas said.
He made the remarks while addressing a discussion organised by the Swadhinota Forum at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
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"Tarique Rahman is now somewhat in good health, but I don't think he has fully recovered. It's not even expected for him to be completely healthy, as it was a different kind of torture. The effects of this will have long-term consequences," he added.
"He will return safely and soon. This is why Allah kept him safe," said Abbas, a former Dhaka city mayor and former minister of housing and public works.
He said the 21 August attack was a conspiracy planned by a foreign power.
"BNP was never involved in that attack. A foreign force orchestrated this heinous act in an attempt to frame our leader, Begum Zia, and our acting chairperson," he added.
Claiming that a false, fabricated, and concocted case was created, Abbas said the sentence was based on a fabricated story.
"Tarique Zia was not involved, which is why he was acquitted. In the past, we have not received justice," he added.
The High Court (HC) today annulled the verdict of the lower court in the two cases filed over the 21 August grenade attack, acquitting all convicts, including BNP's Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.
The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the judgment this morning.
The court also declared the whole trial proceedings of the case illegal, including the charge sheet.
On 21 August 2004, the grenade attack was carried out targeting a rally of the Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. The attack, which took place during the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government, killed 24 people including then Awami League women's affairs secretary Ivy Rahman.
