03 October 2004	Sunday	17 Shaban 1425

DHAKA, Oct 2: A foreign intelligence agency masterminded the August 21 grenade attack on the opposition Awami League s rally and carried it out in association with a local quarter , observed the Judicial Inquiry Commission in its report submitted to the government on Sunday.

Sources close to the one-man commission also said that the motive behind the attack, which killed 21 people including senior AL leader Ivy Rahman, was to tarnish the image of the country and stop foreign investment here by creating political anarchy.

The member secretary of the Commission, Safij Uddin Ahmed, handed over the report to Home Secretary Muhammad Omar Farooq on Sunday noon.

In the 162-page report, the Commission made 32 recommendations to stop recurrence of such attacks , calling upon all concerned for a national consensus and to gear up national security and integrity so that the independence and sovereignty of the country would not be destroyed, sources said.

The Commission recommended that the leader of the opposition be provided with the same level of security that the Prime Minister gets. Any political leader, who feels insecure or wants security, must be provided with proper security, the Commission recommended.

The intelligence and security agencies of the country are incompetent, and therefore ineffective, the Commission observed, and recommended that they be reformed and given proper training, and that their accountability be ensured, said the sources.

Absence of coordination among the national intelligence and security agencies like Detective Branch, Criminal Investigation Department, National Security Intelligence and Defence Forces Intelligence is one of the major threats to national security and sovereignty, the Commission observed.

The Commission recommended appointment of an adviser on security, having the status of a cabinet minister, to ensure coordination among the national intelligence and security agencies.

It recommended the formation of an elite force in the police to prevent smuggling of arms and explosives through the borders of the country.

The report also came up with a recommendation for forming a team of explosives experts in the CID. The team will have to be provided with modern weapons and instruments, including a mobile laboratory, which will enable it to examine evidence (alamat) on the spot at any time. The Commission also recommended that rallies should not be held without prior permission of the relevant authorities, and in venues other than places specified, in order to prevent such killer incidents as that of August 21.

No rally should be held that interrupts the working of business institutions and government offices and movement of the people, the Commission recommended. It recommended the establishment of a cordon at a safe distance from the stage and venue of a rally.

Justice Abedin told reporters that it was beyond his jurisdiction to make the report public. My responsibility was to probe the incident and report to the government. It is now for the government to decide if the report should be published or not, he told newsmen, replying to a volley of questions.

He, however, described the attack as a 'national calamity' and said that one of the recommendations was that the two main parties, without naming BNP and Awami League, should narrow down political differences and work together so that external foes and their local agents cannot create chaos and anarchy in the country.