...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...has reiterated that those who conspired, criminal masterminded and executed the attack would be brought to book.
No one can escape punishment the way the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members did in 1975, she said on Tuesday at a programme at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka to mark the eighth anniversary of the gruesome grenade attack on August 21, 2004.
Twenty four people were killed, including Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, and hundreds of party activists and leaders were maimed in at least 13 grenade blasts at Bangabandhu Avenue on the day. The Awami League, then in opposition, had organised a rally there. Hasina narrowly escaped the attack but suffered damage in her right ear.
"When I was coming down the stage after delivering my speech, one photojournalist requested me to wait for a moment for a snap, which, I think, saved my life," Hasina said.
The attack had been intended to undermine independence, democracy, peace and development and to wipe out the politicianship of Bangladesh, the PM said. She added that the criminals had wanted to put in place a culture of killing, conspiracy, extremism and corruption in the country.