BNP’s Nazrul wants list of martyrs ‘to honour’ them

Senior BNP leader Nazrul Islam Khan has asked for the list of Liberation War martyrs to “fulfil the responsibility” of honouring them.

He sought the list while speaking at a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday, five days after a sedition case was filed against party chief Khaleda Zia for her remarks casting doubt on the number of martyrs.
 
Khan said, “The list of those of us who fought the Liberation War has been prepared. We’re receiving honorarium. Isn’t it our responsibility to honour those who were martyred?”
 
He claimed that an 11-member committee led by ‘Sattar’ listed 28,000 martyrs during Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s regime.
 
“It was not convincing to anyone. Later over 200,000 names were listed,” he said.
 
Khan, a member of the BNP Standing Committee, claimed that Bangabandhu had mentioned the figure as three million by mistake while talking to BBC journalist David Frost after the independence.
 
He said Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister of the wartime Bangladesh’s provisional government, intellectual MR Akhter Mukul and many others mentioned different figures of martyrs at different times.
 
“Deshanetri (leader of the country) Begum Khaleda Zia did not mention any number. Why should she be sued for the statement, which contained no seditious elements,” he said.
 
Speaking at a discussion on Dec 21, Khaleda cast doubt on the number of martyrs.
 
According to government documents, three million people died in the nine-month war that led to Bangladesh’s independence.
 
“There is a debate about how many hundreds of thousands were martyred in the Liberation War. Different books give different accounts,” the BNP chief had said.
 
She faced widespread criticism and several cases, including one for sedition, over the remarks.