Staff Reporter :Head of the International Crimes Tribunal- 1 on Tuesday said the controversy over the figure of martyrs of the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 has been resolved.Justice M Anwarul Haque said it is an undisputed historical fact that 30 lakh people became martyrs in the 1971 Liberation War. His observation came while he was delivering the verdict of two war criminals from Netrokona Obaidul Haque Taher and Ataur Rahman Noni to death for crimes as associates of the Pakistan soldiers in 1971.Justice Anwarul Haque said that it was regrettable that some people are trying to create debate over the figures of 30 lakh martyrs, an estimate recognised by all the previous governments and other academic and historical documents at home and abroad. “Three million people laid their lives and hundreds of thousands women sacrificed their supreme honour for the cause of freeing their motherland Bangladesh,” he said. “It’s a settled issue, question regarding the figure is regrettable. But this settled history is now indisputably mingled with the nation’s emotion and the glory of the war,” he added. The debate on the issue surfaced recently after BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia raised a question on the number of the martyrs of the Liberation War and her party is backing it up. A sedition case has already been filed against the BNP chief after her comment. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her party’s leaders have criticised Khaleda Zia for the comment.
