What is the number of freedom fighters? The complexity of making the list of freedom fighters is not going away

Dhaka Times Report. In fact, there is no accurate history of how many people fought the liberation war in the country in 1971? The government changed again and again and the number of freedom fighters changed. But how much longer?

Even after 40 years of independence, no government has been able to list our freedom fighters correctly. When he came to power, he made people of his choice into freedom fighters. But we will never get the list of real freedom fighters?

Several initiatives have been taken since the present government came to power. Since the Awami League government was involved in the important work of independence of this country. So the responsibility is more on them. After the current government came to power, many decisions were taken in the meeting of the Ministry of Freedom Fighters. which has not yet taken full form.

It is known that the Muktijodha Sangsad has urged to complete the registration of real freedom fighters and verification of non-enrolled freedom fighters by June 30. According to the rules, the list and recommendations of the Upazila Command, Metropolitan Command, District Freedom Fighters Sangsad should be sent to the Central Command Council of the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Sangsad. Then this list will be sent to the National Freedom Fighters Council along with the recommendations of the Parliament. Later, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs will publish this list in gazette form. Most of the district freedom fighters have already informed the central parliament that it will not be possible to verify within the stipulated time. They said, for this they have to give another two months. But Mukti Jodha Sangsad has not taken any decision in this regard yet. As a result, even after 41 years of independence, the list of real freedom fighters is still complicated.

After the Awami League or grand coalition government came to power, first the District Scrutiny Committee was formed with the District Commissioner, the Upazila Scrutiny Committee was formed with the Upazila Executive Officers and the Metropolitan Scrutiny Committee was formed with the District Administrators of each metropolis. But after two years of the formation of this committee, as there was no progress regarding the verification, the government changed its decision and reconstituted the upazila verification committee, district re-examination and appeal settlement committee, metropolitan verification committee, central re-examination and appeal settlement committee with the designated freedom fighter parliament leaders. is done When this committee was reconstituted on April 6, 2011, applications for inclusion in the list of freedom fighters and exclusion from the list of non-freedom fighters were sent from the central parliament to the district, upazila and metropolitan scrutinizing committees. Forms printed from the Central Command Council of the Freedom Fighters Congress are sent to upazilas, districts and cities for verification. But due to complications with this list sent by the Parliament, in a circular sent by the Parliament, it was ordered not to check the names of the real freedom fighters printed in the red book of the 1996 Muktijodha Sangsad. After receiving this instruction, when the work of verification started again, the parliamentary standing committee regarding the Ministry of Liberation War decided to change the printed form of the parliament. They prepared a new form and sent it to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs and instructed to fill and verify the form. In the light of this decision, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs printed the new form on May 13 this year and sent it to the district, upazila and metropolitan command. Currently verification is going on according to this form. Due to this, the district parliament informed that the verification work will not be completed in the next two months. However, on behalf of the Parliament, the Central Parliament organizes workshops to train the Selection Committees of District, Upazila and Metropolitan Commands. The form for scrutiny in that workshop was the form prepared by the Parliament. But now the Central Command Council of Muktijoddha Sangsad has not decided whether there will be a new workshop or not due to the change in the form.

It is known that in this three-page form printed in the gazette, the freedom fighters' identity in 'A' part and war history relationship information in 'B' part is sought. According to the latest gazette printed by the Ministry of Liberation War, the actual number of freedom fighters is 2 lakh two thousand 900 people. The list of war casualties and martyred freedom fighters of Kalyan Trust is out of this list. There are 7 thousand 136 people in the list of martyred freedom fighters and war wounded freedom fighters. In the budget of the fiscal year 1011-12, one and a half lakh freedom fighters were given honorary allowance. According to the Ministry of Liberation War, 45 thousand 764 freedom fighters still do not receive allowance. However, there is a complaint that during the liberation war in 1971, freedom fighters who did not go to India or did not receive training in the country are currently receiving allowances. The Ministry of Liberation War has given the task of finalizing the list of real freedom fighters to the Freedom Fighters Parliament, but the list has not been prepared in two years. And this is how the origin of the real list of freedom fighters has been stabilized. Only Allah knows when the correct list will be prepared and when people will be able to see it.

Policy regarding grants and allowances of titled freedom fighters

According to the latest news, a policy is being formulated to provide grant and monthly allowance to the titled freedom fighters. A committee of seven members has been formed by convening the Managing Director of Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust to formulate this policy. The committee has been given a deadline of two weeks to come up with a draft policy. It has been asked to submit the draft policy within the stipulated time to the Secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. Later after obtaining the approval of the Cabinet Division, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs will issue a notification regarding grant and allowances to the titled freedom fighters. Recently, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Captain (Retd.) AB Tajul Islam, Minister of State for Ministry of Liberation War, regarding grant and payment of monthly allowance to the titled freedom fighters in the ministry. In this meeting, it was decided to formulate a policy regarding grant and monthly allowance to the titled freedom fighters. In this meeting, it was decided to send a summary from the ministry to the cabinet department regarding the grant and allowance in honor of the freedom fighters awarded for their heroic contribution in the Great War of Liberation. It was said in the meeting that currently there are 676 titled freedom fighters. Among them, there are 291 people from the army, 21 people from the navy, 23 people from the air force, 118 people from the BGB, 5 people from the police force and 218 people from the mass army. According to the information kept in the ministry, Birshrestha 7, Birottam 68, Birvikram 175 and Birpratik 426. A notification has recently been issued by the Ministry of Defense regarding their allowances and grants. But the notification does not mention anything about which organization the allowance will be given to the titleholders of the public forces. It was also said in the meeting that before the formation of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, the overall affairs of the freedom fighters were settled by the Ministry of Defense, now the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has been formed. Initiatives have been taken to formulate this policy with the need to issue a separate notification regarding allowances and grants from this ministry. In the light of this policy, the allowance of the titled freedom fighters will be provided by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. It is to be noted that the grants and allowances of the Army, Air Force and Navy members from the Ministry of Liberation War are provided through the Armed Forces Department and the grants and allowances of the Police, Ansar and BGB members are provided through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the grants and allowances of the members of the People's Army are provided through the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust.