News Desk :
The government has published the first list of 147,537 freedom fighters, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the four national leaders and 191 martyred intellectuals.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque announced the list at a press conference at the ministry in Dhaka on Thursday as the nation was set to celebrate the 50th Independence Day on Friday, reports bdnews24.com
Besides the self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu, the list also contains the names of Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmed and Ziaur Rahman, who came to power after the assassination of the Father of the Nation.
The minister said their post-war “misdeeds” will be mentioned on the list.
UNB adds: The Minister said, another list of freedom fighters and martyred intellectuals will be published on June 30 after scrutiny.
Besides, the list of gazetted freedom fighters will be published by April 30, the minister said, adding that no new application for including names in the freedom fighters’ list will be allowed. Those who have already submitted their applications can submit appeals, he added.
The list of the gazetted freedom fighters prepared by different forces, including the Army, has been cancelled and the list made by the Army was controversial but their allowance is still active, Mozammel said.
“We’re scrutinising those who were the real freedom fighters in the forces. We believe the right number will be 8,000-10,000,” he said.
“For providing a cent percent error-free list we took time, but still there might be some mistakes, but it won’t a big one,” the minister stated adding, “Today, we’ve published 1,47,537 names and after scrutiny the number of total freedom fighters won’t go beyond 1,70,000.”
Replying to a question about the enlistment of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad in the list, he said their names have been included as they have fought the Liberation War but the misdeeds committed by them, including abetting the assassins of Bangabandhu will be mentioned beside their names in the list, Haque said.
“As freedom fighters, its their achievement, no one can snatch it from them.” He said, adding, “A committee has been formed over revoking their gallantry title Bir Uttam. Bir Uttam is honour and any government can honour anyone and also can revoke it for other offences.”
On February 9, the Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Jamuka) at a meeting discussed the ways to revoke the gallantry title of Ziaur Rahman for ‘violating’ the constitution, ‘abetting’ the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in escaping the country.
Bir Uttam, the second-highest award for individual gallantry in Bangladesh, was conferred on Ziaur Rahman for his contributions to the Liberation War as a sector commander.
