 The probe into the August 17 countrywide blasts seems to have been stalled as the investigators are now busy completing the charge sheets of the cases.
| Take care of the paperwork and the work will take care of itself, right? |
The state minister for home affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, at a meeting on October 17 announced that trials of the cases would begin from the end of this month and the verdicts are expected within three months. But lawyers expressed doubts about the trials being completed in such a short period.
| "Not if we have anything to say about it!" |
Terming the government’s announcement over-optimistic and an attempt to dazzle the public, the Supreme Court Bar Association’s president, Mahbubey Alam, said such fast trials would protect the persons who were working behind the scenes, because there would not be enough time for investigators to uncover them.
| Isn't that the whole idea? |
‘The blasts of August 17 are the outcome of a long-term plan of the militants and it needs more time to complete investigation of the incidents so that the masterminds can be identified,’ he said. ‘How can the investigation into the countrywide blasts be completed when the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the Awami League’s rally, that killed 22 people, has remained unsolved till date?’ asked Mahbub, and alleged that completing the trials after incomplete investigation would tarnish the country’s image.
| Bangla's image takes a lot of tarnishing. And the AL blast investigation isn't done because the gummint didn't want it done. |
Moreover, the chiefs of the two militant organizations most under scrutiny, Shaikh Abdur Rahman of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, are yet to be caught although the government announced a large bounty for them more than a month ago.
| I don't think I'd wait for them to be caught before starting the trials of their underlings. |
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