Dhaka, August 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has described the 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka as one of the “most brutal and shameful” chapters in the country’s history, as the party marked the 22nd anniversary of the deadly assault.
The August 21, 2004 attack at Bangabandhu Avenue killed 24 Awami League leaders and activists and injured hundreds. Among those killed was Ivy Rahman, then president of the Bangladesh Mahila Awami League and wife of former President Zillur Rahman.
Hasina, who was the opposition leader at the time, narrowly survived the attack but suffered injuries that affected her hearing. Many of those injured sustained permanent disabilities.
In a statement shared by the Awami League on X, Hasina alleged that the attack was carried out by the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) at the behest of the then BNP-Jamaat coalition government. She said the assault was intended to undermine democratic politics and revive a politics of confrontation in Bangladesh.
Hasina urged younger Bangladeshis to study the country’s history objectively, citing the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, the killing of four national leaders in jail, military rule, the Indemnity Ordinance and attacks on political opponents.
She also alleged that forces advocating an “anti-independence” political agenda had returned to prominence following August 5, 2024. She accused them of targeting her and the Awami League through violence and legal cases.
Hasina said the Awami League would remain committed to overcoming obstacles and building the “Sonar Bangla” envisioned by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a secular, modern and welfare-oriented Bangladesh.
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