Govt takes steps to identify 30 lakh mass martyrs: Mozammel

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque today informed the House that the present government took a pragmatic steps to identify 30 lakh mass martyrs across the country during nine-month long Liberation War, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency report says.

“It is yet to identify 30 lakh mass martyrs who sacrificed their most valuable lives in the War of Liberation in 1971 . . . The government has taken pragmatic steps to identify them in the future,” he told the Jatiya Sangsad.

The minister said this, replying to a query of treasury bench member Begum Ratna Ahmed, in the question-answer period on the fourth day of the fourth session of the 11th parliament this evening with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

The Liberation War minister added: “After collecting the data through the Ministry of Liberation War about the freedom fighters who participated in the liberation war, the government has created a database and published it on the website.”

Besides the government, Mozammel said it was not possible to identify all of these people faced martyrdom in the 9-month war, but the government is also working to identify if any freedom fighter is left out of the published list.

“As part of the grand list, the full list of 5,795 martyrs, name and address detailed has been published on the website. Among them, 2,922 gazetted civilian martyrs, 1,628 members of the Armed Forces, 832 members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and 424 martyrs of police,” he informed the House.

In response to another question of the ruling party MP, Didarul Alam, the minister said in the gazette 322 women freedom fighters, including two titled ones, were enlisted.

Answering to the question treasury bench member Mahfuzur Rahman, the Liberation War minister said a total Taka 461 crore sanctioned for preserving and developing mass graves and memories of the martyred freedom fighters.

“In the initial stage, some 20 thousand graves and memories of the freedom fighters will be preserved. Besides, countrywide 281 killing fields, where Pakistani occupation and their auxiliary forces murdered freedom fighters and Bengalees in 1971 will be preserved and developed at the cost of Tk 442.40 crore,” the minister added.

Kamruzzaman