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Download PDF As the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is repeatedly seeking to know the actual status of investigation into the August 21 grenade attack case, Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar continues accusing the Awami League (AL) of non-cooperation with the probe.
Sircar has even asked the IPU not to continue examining the August 2004 grenade attack case regarding the assassination attempt on Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina to let the legal proceedings go unhindered, sources said.
“It would not be wise to proceed with this matter any further in this forum. With heartfelt thanks in anticipation of dropping the matter,” he said in his reply to the July 20, 2006 letter of the IPU, the international organisation of Parliaments of sovereign States.
The speaker sent his letter to the IPU during its ongoing conference on October 16-18 in Geneva. In the reply he also lauded the government’s initiatives to probe the grenade attack that killed 23 AL leaders and activists and injured several hundred including a
number of lawmakers.
“The government of Bangladesh has made every effort to unearth the real culprits. Thorough investigation, by high officials of the home department is continuing. It is regrettable that neither at the investigation stage nor any other stage did Awami League leaders extend any manner of cooperation for a fully-fledged investigation,” the speaker continued.
The speaker had earlier pinned the same blame on the AL but it was rejected by the IPU.
“The investigation has been delayed due to non-cooperation of the Awami League,” he asserted.
“The FBI, Scotland Yard and Interpol arrived in Bangladesh to investigate the grenade attack. But the Awami League did not appear or cooperate with the investigation agencies. So, they (investigation agencies) were unable to collect any evidence from the Awami Leaguers and departed,” he said.
The Bangladesh government constituted a high-powered judicial enquiry commission headed by Justice Joynul Abedin. Many people appeared before the commission and gave testimony, but the AL leaders did not cooperate with the commission, he alleged.
Sircar, whose role in running parliament in the last five years has been questioned on neutrality grounds, had earlier communicated to the IPU blaming the AL for non- cooperation.
But the IPU examined the facts and rejected his allegations against the AL. The IPU’s findings were included in its resolution adopted by consensus by the IPU Governing Council at its 178th session in Nairobi, Kenya on May 12, 2006.
In this resolution that expressed grave dismay at the August 21 grenade attack, the IPU also asked Speaker Sircar to attend the ongoing conference to provide information and his observations on the grenade attack.
The resolution, which was conveyed to the speaker, affirms that “attempts on the life of a parliament member stand as a threat to all members of that parliament and, ultimately, to the institution of parliament as such and to the people it represents.”
It also considers that “the parliament of Bangladesh has a vested interest in closely following the investigations into the grenade attack of 21 August 2004 in order to ensure due administration of justice…”
Sources in the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat said the speaker was scheduled to attend the Geneva IPU conference. The parliament secretariat was also making preparations in this regard, but Sircar suddenly cancelled his visit to Geneva.
His personal secretary went to Geneva as the assistant official of the Bangladesh parliament delegation along with the secretary to the parliament secretariat, the sources added.
The delegation led by BNP lawmaker Ziaur Rahman Khan includes BNP lawmaker Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Rabeya Chowdhury, Jatiya Party lawmaker Rawshan Ershad and Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Mia Golam Parwar.
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