NEWS reports said that the Liberation War Ministry has set up a three-member committee to probe into the fraud that was committed in producing medals which the government awarded to foreign friends and organizations of Bangladesh Liberation War during its last tenure in office. As the news flash out, we bear the guilt of a national shame instead of feeling proud of honouring the friends of our Liberation War. We can’t accept it at all and ask the government to find out the culprits and punish them, no matter who they are or what relation they have with the ruling elite.
Under the plan as news reports said, each medal was supposed to have 11.664 grams of gold and 350 grams of silver; but testing of the medals by Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) in 2012 found that it had only 2.363 grams of gold and an alloy was used instead of silver metals. The government honoured the friends of our Liberation War awarding medals and citations to 338 persons and organizations inviting them to Dhaka in seven batches. But the disclosure that these medals were subjected to frauds has not only demeaned the dignity of the entire occasion; we are also afraid that the recipients may not take it well either.
We know that corruptions, irregularities and swindling of budgetary money are pervasive at all levels and the sweeping hand of government officials and the ruling party leaders and workers are making unrestrained drives to amass illegal wealth. But our minimum expectations were that the government would be rightly alert to save the occasion from the black hand of the fortune mongers to protect the honour and dignity of the nation. But it has miserably failed thus bringing shame on the nation and especially personal embarrassment to the Prime Minister who had invested so much of her desire to honour the friends of the Liberation War.
News reports said the Liberation War Ministry has asked the probe committee led by the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner to dig into the matter and submit a report to the government within 15 working days. After getting the investigation report, the Minister said the government would take actions against the people who were involved in the mischief. The Minister reportedly said deception with foreign friends is a huge matter and nobody would be spared. But confusions have also arisen if the mischief was detected in 2012, why the government distributed the medals to guests in functions which were also organized in 2013.
Reports said that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Liberation War were involved in the process, besides the Cabinet Division. Two contractors supplied the medals and the contracts were awarded without public tender. We hold the view that the wrong-doers may not be far away from the reach of the law enforcers, but the question is whether or not they will have a free hand to deal with them.
