freedom fighters’ list

Fresh enlistment falters

The government has not been able to finalize the new list of ‘genuine’ freedom fighters in three years due to legal and political tangles. And it has no idea when the list will be completed, sources in the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs have revealed. More than 30,000 appeals have been submitted against the scrutiny process, sources said. Of the 470 scrutiny committees at the upazila level, at least 116 are yet to submit their reports because of these appeals. Apart from that, there are political tiffs within the ruling party about the inclusion of ‘genuine’ freedom fighters and the deletion of the names of ‘fake’ freedom fighters, the sources added.

Minister for Liberation War Affairs AKM Mozammel Haque admitted that they were not being able to complete the scrutiny for the sixth list of freedom fighters due to legal tangles. “We are in the final stage of the scrutiny. But the list cannot be completed until the writ petitions filed against the process are disposed of,” he said.

The minister, however, said that they will take the necessary measures to complete the work by next year at any cost. Director general of the Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Jamuka), Md Mizanur Rahman, said they are yet to receive reports from over 100 scrutiny committees due to legal knots. “The matter will be raised in the next Jamuka meeting on December 24 to find out a way to deal with the complexities,” he said.

The Jamuka boss said many committees are not following the procedure asked of them. This is creating a further problem in compiling the reports. Asked about the trend of brand-new freedom fighters cropping up in the committee reports Jamuka has received so far, he said they are yet to go through the reports. Replying to a question, he said the nine-member Jamuka led by the minister would decide on the time and venue of the disclosure of the new list in due time.

About the appeals received by Jamuka from the aggrieved persons, he said they would look into it after completion of the scrutiny process. The Jamuka had received 31,163 appeals until Thursday. Even 46 years after independence, the nation is yet to see an ‘authentic’ list of freedom fighters. In 2014, the present government took the move to prepare it. Jamuka was supposed to complete it by May 20 this year.

The committees started the process of scrutinizing ‘genuine’ freedom fighters. It got new applications from 134,000 people; 60,000 were said to be ‘fake’ freedom fighters and 44,000 had been included by the BNP government, Jamuka sources said.

The committees were supposed to scrutinize the documents of gazetted freedom fighters included neither in the Indian list nor in the Mukti Barta (Red Book) prepared by the Muktijoddha Sangsad.

Successive governments have so far prepared five lists of freedom fighters after the War of Liberation in 1971. Each time, the number of freedom fighters increased as the government included candidates of their choice and deleted those they disliked. Besides, many genuine freedom fighters are not even interested in being included in the list or they never got the opportunity to do so, said sources in the know. The first list of freedom fighters was prepared during the Ershad regime in 1988 and had 69,833 names. The BNP-led alliance government upgraded the list in 1994 and the number of freedom fighters increased to 86,000, according to ministry sources.

In the Mukti Barta (Red) list prepared by the Awami League led government in 1999, the number of freedom fighters rose to 158,452. The BNP led alliance government again updated the list in 2002 and the number rose to 1,98,889, said the sources. The AL led grand alliance government updated the list once again in 2009 and the number rose to 231,385.

The government facilities for freedom fighters, including monthly allowances, two Eid bonuses, and job and education quota, have lured many people to try to get a freedom fighter’s certificate though their names appear neither in the Indian list nor in the Mukti Barta (Red).

 

 

freedom fighters list

Fresh enlistment falters

The government has not been able to finalize the new list of genuine freedom fighters in three years due to legal and political tangles. And it has no idea when the list will be completed, sources in the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs have revealed. More than 30,000 appeals have been submitted against the scrutiny process, sources said. Of the 470 scrutiny committees at the upazila level, at least 116 are yet to submit their reports because of these appeals. Apart from that, there are political tiffs within the ruling party about the inclusion of genuine freedom fighters and the deletion of the names of fake freedom fighters, the sources added. Minister for Liberation War Affairs AKM Mozammel Haque admitted that they were not being able to complete the scrutiny for the sixth list of freedom fighters due to legal tangles. We are in the final stage of the scrutiny. But the list cannot be completed until the writ petitions filed against the process are disposed of, he said. The minister, however, said that they will take the necessary measures to complete the work by next year at any cost. Director general of the Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Jamuka), Md Mizanur Rahman, said they are yet to receive reports from over 100 scrutiny committees due to legal knots. The matter will be raised in the next Jamuka meeting on December 24 to find out a way to deal with the complexities, he said. The Jamuka boss said many committees are not following the procedure asked of them. This is creating a further problem in compiling the reports. Asked about the trend of brand-new freedom fighters cropping up in the committee reports Jamuka has received so far, he said they are yet to go through the reports. Replying to a question, he said the nine-member Jamuka led by the minister would decide on the time and venue of the disclosure of the new list in due time. About the appeals received by Jamuka from the aggrieved persons, he said they would look into it after completion of the scrutiny process. The Jamuka had received 31,163 appeals until Thursday. Even 46 years after independence, the nation is yet to see an authentic list of freedom fighters. In 2014, the present government took the move to prepare it. Jamuka was supposed to complete it by May 20 this year. The committees started the process of scrutinizing genuine freedom fighters. It got new applications from 134,000 people; 60,000 were said to be fake freedom fighters and 44,000 had been included by the BNP government, Jamuka sources said. The committees were supposed to scrutinize the documents of gazetted freedom fighters included neither in the Indian list nor in the Mukti Barta (Red Book) prepared by the Muktijoddha Sangsad. Successive governments have so far prepared five lists of freedom fighters after the War of Liberation in 1971. Each time, the number of freedom fighters increased as the government included candidates of their choice and deleted those they disliked. Besides, many genuine freedom fighters are not even interested in being included in the list or they never got the opportunity to do so, said sources in the know. The first list of freedom fighters was prepared during the Ershad regime in 1988 and had 69,833 names. The BNP-led alliance government upgraded the list in 1994 and the number of freedom fighters increased to 86,000, according to ministry sources. In the Mukti Barta (Red) list prepared by the Awami League led government in 1999, the number of freedom fighters rose to 158,452. The BNP led alliance government again updated the list in 2002 and the number rose to 1,98,889, said the sources. The AL led grand alliance government updated the list once again in 2009 and the number rose to 231,385. The government facilities for freedom fighters, including monthly allowances, two Eid bonuses, and job and education quota, have lured many people to try to get a freedom fighters certificate though their names appear neither in the Indian list nor in the Mukti Barta (Red).