On that fateful afternoon of August 21, 2002 when, in broad daylight, grenades were lobbed into the makeshift dais from where the AL chief, cordoned by party volunteers, had finished her concluding speech seconds before the explosions took place. The attack killed twenty-four and maimed three hundred of AL's dedicated activists. The law enforcers, as well as intelligence agencies, apart from thousands of the members of the public, were privy to the whole episode. Yet, two years on, no one knows what was it for, and who was behind the mayhem. It is an inexplicable lapse by the authorities, and morally repugnant for the establishment, not to be able to tell the people the truth behind the lethal attack which has "enormous political implications, since the entire leadership of Awami League was present at the rally."

In the eyes of the US congressmen, who recently wrote to our Prime minister for a "new, fully free probe" into the mystery that still persists, "the failure of the ruling government is symbolic of a serious diminution of the rule of law in Bangladesh and it has emboldened lawlessness and allowed Islamic extremist elements to gain ground." Notwithstanding such aspersion the government does not seem to be pushed much, and has been playing hide and seek in this regard. The home minister is now saying that the progress in investigations is not satisfactory, although a year ago the criminal investigation department (CID) had claimed "significant progress" in the probe saying that it was about to submit the chargesheet. Lutfuzzaman Babar also claimed "stupendous progress" in investigation last June in New York.

These contradictions and dichotomies in the pronouncements from responsible quarters of the government are not without reason. They are frantically trying to divert the course of the probe toward a pre-determined conclusion. In the meantime the people wonder about the fate of the investigation in which the establishment's only visible success is the apprehension of one Joj Miah of Noakhali, and extracting from him a confessional statement that points to the involvement of the country's top terrorists who had , however, left the country before August 21.

As regards justice, it seems to have been already subverted. "Justice delayed, Justice denied" -- as the adage goes. There is little justice that can be dispensed at this late stage.

There has emerged a pattern of political elimination in this country that started with the killing of the nation's founding father. It was soon followed by the killing of four national leaders in prison. Fitting in the same pattern the fundamentalist forces, which were defeated in 1971, could have enacted August 21 with the acquiescence and abettment of their ideological cohorts. At least, according to the gut feeling of the common people, the finger of doubt points toward them. Such a possibility seems to have been set aside right from the beginning. Instead, in an orchestrated wave of propaganda crafted by interested quarters, accusations have been raised against terrorist gangs, foreign hands and the Awami League itself.

The problem is that the authorities do not think that the public has common sense. They, unfortunately, take them to be a bunch of morons who would accept the establishment's subterfuge as a substitute for a fair probe. At the moment the linchpin is one obscure Joj Miah, a vagabond from Noakhali, who has been domesticated to wag his tail as dictated for a paltry sum of 2000 taka per month, given as stipend, apparently from the public coffer. Let us wait and see how the melodrama reaches its denouement.

However, credit is due to the CID and Home Ministry apparatchiks who could craftily handle both, the FBI and Interpol, who came rushing to Bangladesh to solve the country's terror problem, but went back unulitilised.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.