DHAKA – Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said his party is not fully satisfied over the verdict of 21-August grenade attack as the mastermind of the attack BNP’s acting vice-chairman Tarique Rahman was not awarded death penalty.

“We are not fully unhappy and also not fully satisfied over the verdict of 21-August grenade attack as the mastermind of the gruesome attack BNP’s acting vice-chairman Tarique Rahman was not awarded capital punishment,” he told journalist in his first reaction over the verdict after signing a contract of MRT Line-1 at Bangabandhu International Conference Center here.

The prime target of the horrible attack was the then opposition leader and incumbent Prime Minister Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina, Quader said, adding that the plan of the attack was mapped out from the Hawa Bhaban.

One of the important accused for the attack Mufti Hannan acknowledged in his confessional statement before the court that permission for carrying out the attack was taken from Tarique Rahman.

The verdict, however, over the grenade attack has come after 14 years while it emerged as a topic of public discussion and criticism over the whole time, he said.

A court here today sentenced to death to 19 people including former junior home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and life imprisonment to another 19 including ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s fugitive son Tarique Rahman on August 21, 2004 grenade attack charge.

A total of 24 AL leaders and workers, including the then Mohila Awami League President and wife of late President Zillur Rahman, Ivy Rahman, were killed and around 500 others were injured in the monstrous attack.