Md.Rayhan Ali

Beloved motherland Bangladesh has passed 52 years of independence. The history of independence is long. It took a long struggle and blood to wrest this freedom from the clutches of Pakistani hyenas. This freedom is gained in exchange of fresh blood. The freedom-seeking people of this country got an independent flag and map in return for 9 months of fierce fighting with Pakistani hyenas.

To achieve this freedom, we had to sacrifice the honor of about 30 lakh martyrs and 2 lakh mothers and sisters. Many of our families have lost their mothers, sisters, husbands, wives and children in the struggle for independence.

And many of them lost their limbs while fighting. There was no illusion of the life of the liberators that day, there was only a desire for freedom. How much respect we have been able to give to the participants and collaborators of the liberation war is being questioned everywhere in the independent country today.

If we are reluctant to pay real respect to such great sacrifices, we as a nation are considered to be very ungrateful to them. As a nation we can never repay their debt but it is our moral duty to aim to ensure that their respect is deserved by the state. Today it is sad to say that many of the true self-sacrifices or freedom fighters are out of state honor. We have not been able to bring these missing freedom fighters under the national honor or list.

This is the shame of our new generation. In this country, many corrupt political leaders and bureaucrats are running high on their heads by embezzling people's money and making thousands of crores of wealth illegally in a democratic state. At present, such corrupt people are slowly being brought to justice.

The image of the looting of people's wealth is slowly coming before everyone. We want to live peacefully in a free country. When a government takes over, no government has a private initiative to monitor the corrupt. During all the governments, I heard the people in front of the peace and secretly Harilut! Now is the time to reform these. The younger generation is now desperate for these reforms. Md. Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, icons of the young generation, have already joined as advisers to the interim government.

The honor of the spirit of the liberation war and the honor of many real freedom fighters as a nation have been lost in many ways. Many freedom fighters are victims of political revenge for various reasons and are out of state honor. One thing that is heard the most in newspaper reports and the conscious public is that it is a fake freedom fighter. There are many debates about this fake freedom fighter.

According to the 2018 circular of the Ministry of Liberation War, 'The heroic freedom fighters who were at least 12 years and 6 months old on November 30, 1971, will be considered as freedom fighters. According to that, the minimum age of a heroic freedom fighter will be 61 and a half years. According to the newspaper report, many freedom fighters are gazetted beyond these rules and regulations.

"Gazette branch of the Ministry of Liberation War says that a total of 2 lakh 35 thousand 467 names of brave freedom fighters were gazetted at different times. On the other hand, the budget branch of the Ministry of Liberation War says that allowance (monthly honorarium) has been allocated in the name of 2 lakh 19 thousand 758 brave freedom fighters in the month of January.

And on the golden jubilee of independence in March 2021, the government released a list (incomplete) of 1 lakh 47 thousand 537 brave freedom fighters. As a result, there is ambiguity about the actual number of brave freedom fighters in the country.Jamuka sources say that during the BNP-Jamaat four-party coalition government from 2001 to 2006, the then Cabinet Secretary Saadat Hussain was made the convener and the Joint Secretary of the Liberation War Affairs Ministry, Momtaz Uddin, was made a 15-member National Committee.

This committee included 2 lakh 10 thousand 581 people in the list. In 2009, the Awami League government came to power and complained that more than 70,000 freedom fighters were enlisted during the four-party coalition government led by the BNP.

To remove the freedom fighters from the list, the Awami League government started a local committee to check all the deputy commissioners and UNOs of the country. On the other hand, the Awami League government has newly listed the names of 11,500 people as freedom fighters. And about 20,000 names have been dropped from the list due to various reasons.

However, the inclusion of new names in the list has not stopped. Shahriar Kabir, president of the Khatak Dalal Nirmul Committee of 1971, told Prothom Alo, "The names of all the real freedom fighters have not yet appeared in the list of brave freedom fighters, on the other hand, the names of many people who did not go to the liberation war have been included in the list". (Information source: Prothom Alo, March 26, 2023.

Due to partisanship many fake freedom fighters got state honors but many real freedom fighters are out of this list. It is shameful for our young generation to be left out of the list of real freedom fighters.
A few days ago I happened to meet an old man above seventy. I came to know in the address identification phase that he is a freedom fighter but his name is not included in the official list. When asked some information about the liberation war including name and address, he said his name is Md. Kabir Uddin Khan, father - deceased - Piru Khan, Sang - South Fukra, Thana - Kashiani, District - Gopalganj.

During the liberation war, he went to the neighboring state of Birbhum Bihar in India and took war training for about a month. After the training, he returned to the country to protect his mother and participated in the liberation war under the supervision of Major General Manju Saheb, the commander of the 8th sector during the war. The weapon issued in his name at that time was 'Rifle- Russian-Three Not Three,R,A-37118. He had at least 34 known fellow freedom fighters during the war.

Most of them are official gazetted freedom fighters but Kabir Mia could not become an official gazetted freedom fighter. Although he is not a gazetted freedom fighter, Kashiani is the person entrusted by the TNO office to look after the 'Dakshin Fukra Muktijoddha Smriti Sangh'. Visiting many offices for enrollment has not been resolved. He applied online as a freedom fighter on June 5, 2014. Of which D,G No.-DG1146145. Kabir Mia felt a lot of pain that 'I fought the liberation war risking my life and almost all my fellow freedom fighters were gazetted but I could not be'. Many real freedom fighters like Kabir Mia are out of official gazette today. Today there is a demand everywhere that the list of real freedom fighters should be published again.

According to the newspaper, 'During the 16 years of Awami League's power, many fake freedom fighters including their ministers and MPs were also accused of being gazetted. Many were dropped after criticism. After the gazette was issued in the name of former Minister of Housing and Public Works and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Sh. Rezaul Karim and former Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Farooq Khan, who were 10 years old during the Liberation War, it was decided to scrutinize it again in the face of criticism. Ministry of Freedom Fighters and JAMUKA sources said that soon after the interim government took over, Faruq e Azam Birpratik, Advisor on Liberation War of the government, held a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Liberation War and its subordinate institutions. In that meeting, after reviewing the gazette of the freedom fighters issued in the past, he gave strict instructions to find out the fake freedom fighters and to bring the fake freedom fighters under punishment. (Source: Daily Bangladesh, August 6, 2024)

Finally, I would like to say that the true honor of those who gave their lives and risked their lives for the freedom of this motherland and the free flag should not be forgotten. Freedom fighters should not be included in the list of brave freedom fighters under any political umbrella. We do not want to see any kind of corruption-irregularity in the country. We will never be able to repay the debt of the real freedom fighters. Now is the time for the authorities to take proper initiative and steps to identify the real freedom fighters again in an effort to give minimum respect to the freedom fighters.

The writer is a, Advocate & Columnist, Judge Court, Khulna.