Legal issues dog scrutiny of freedom fighters
Rafiqul Islam Azad
The governments move to complete the scrutiny of genuine freedom fighters has not made much progress in the past six months.
Sources said out of a total of 470 scrutiny committees, the work of 116 has been suspended due to legal issues, and there are reports of disputes and allegations against the remaining committees.
We have so far received reports from 334 scrutiny committees, while 30 committees are yet to submit their reports, said Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Jamuka) acting director general Md Ahsan Habib.
Talking to The Independent, Habib said Jamukas top priority was to complete the scrutiny of freedom fighters as soon as possible by overcoming the legal barriers. Hearings on the writ petitions against the committees are being held every day, he added.
The Jamuka boss said some seven to eight plaintiffs have withdrawn their petitions.
He further said that the council has sought tabulated details from the seven-member committees at the upazila level about the freedom fighters named in the Indian list or Mukti Barta (Red) and those enlisted as Mukti Barta (Green), and the types of benefits received by those individuals. So far, we have only received detailed information from 40 committees, he added.
Sources said the last meeting of the nine-member Jamuka, headed by Liberation War affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque, was held on July 13.
The meeting had emphasised the need to complete the scrutiny work as soon as possible, they added.
Earlier, the Jamuka had set March 26 as the date to formally disclose the scrutiny results, but failed to do so mostly due to legal complications.
A senior official of the council, on condition of anonymity, said a process was underway for the formation of a new Jamuka. It will take subsequent steps to complete the scrutiny of freedom fighters, he added.
The scrutiny of freedom fighters had begun on January 21 after about 150,000 applicants for fresh enlistment and around 25,000 gazetted freedom fighters were accused of using fake documents, the official said. He also said government facilities for freedom fighters, including monthly allowances, two Eid bonuses, and quotas for jobs and admissions in educational institutions, had lured many people to try and get a freedom fighters certificate, although the names of many of them did not appear either in the Mukti Barta (Green) or in Mukti Barta (Red) lists.
Each time a list was prepared after Independence in 1971, the number of freedom fighters increased. According to the latest list, there are about 215,000 freedom fighters, the official said.
A total of 470 committees459 at the upazila level, eight at the city level and three in the hill districtsstarted the scrutiny of both gazetted freedom fighters and new applicants online and manually.
Jamuka sources said they have received 123,170 applications online and about 25,000 manually for one year from October 16, 2013 to October 31, 2014.
The committees also scrutinised the documents of gazetted freedom fighters who were neither included in the Indian list nor in the Mukti Barta (Red Book) prepared by the Muktijodda Sangsad, the sources mentioned.
The first list of freedom fighters was prepared during the Ershad regime in 1984 and had 102,458 names. The Ershad government updated the list in 1988, and the number dropped to 69,833.
The BNP-led government upgraded the list for the third time in 1994, and the number increased to 86,000. The list was reviewed twice during the AL government from 1996 to 2001.
The Mukti Barta (Green) enlisted the names of 186,790 freedom fighters and the Mukti Barta (Red) 158,452. The BNP again updated the list in 2006, and the number rose to 198,889, according to ministry sources.
