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Published : 18 Dec 2019, 04:29 AM
War Crimes Fact Finding Committee, Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, and Sector Commanders’ Forum have called for identification of those responsible for the controversy and action against them as well.
Leaders of the organisations continuously working on the 1971 Liberation War say such confusions would not have been created had the experts been consulted before the release of the list on Dec 15, the eve of the Victory Day.
The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs published the first list of 10,789, saying they had opposed Bangladesh’s independence and helped the Pakistani forces during the war.
Many welcomed the long overdue list in immediate reactions but criticisms over the list intensified as allegations of names of freedom fighters or pro-liberation people appearing on the list started to surface.
Besides the freedom fighters, local leaders and activists of the Awami League expressed anger and frustration after seeing names of organisers of the war and leaders of the party on the list in Barishal, Rajshahi, Bogura, and Jhalakathi. Protest programmes have been called at some places.
The list has the name of Md Gholam Arif, an advocate in Rajshahi. ICT Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo believes it is him the list named.
Golam Arif Tipu, chief of the International Crimes Tribunal's prosecution panel, briefs reporters in Dhaka on Sunday. Photo: Rasheduzzaman/ bdnews24.com/ Dhaka, September 26, 2010
“I have come here with a heavy heart alongside my colleagues, including the learned prosecutors. I am speechless, astonished, shocked, and feeling insulted,” Tipoo said at a press conference at his office on Tuesday.
“I don’t understand from where they got this much power. It seems the evil forces supporting the war criminals and opposing the independence have remained at the Liberation War affairs ministry and are doing these things deliberately,” he said.
Besides Tipoo, income tax lawyer Abdus Salam and Mia Mohsin were included in the portion for Rajshahi Division of the list released by the ministry on the eve of the Victory Day on Sunday, the chief prosecutor of the ICT said, noting that several members of Salam’s family were killed during the war.
Angry reactions on social media and street protests continued as Barishal freedom fighter Tapan Kumar Chakroborty has been named on the list.
The name of his mother Usha Rani Chakroborty, the widow of Sudhir Kumar Chakraborty who was martyred by the Pakistani forces during the war, is also on the list.
Residents of Barguna reacted angrily after seeing the name of late Majibul Haque, the founding president of Patharghata Awami League and the chief of the Muktijuddho Sangram Parishad, on the list.
In Bogura, former MP late Kasim Uddin Ahmed, an organiser of the Liberation War, Awami League MLA Mojibur Rahman, commander Mansur Ali, former Awami League leader Taher Uddin Sardar, freedom fighter Zahan Ali, former leader of Santahar College Students’ Union Amirul Islam and Awami League leader Foyez Uddin have been named as collaborators, according to freedom fighters.
“Nothing can be of more shame than having Shamsu Bhai’s name on the list of Razakars,” said Abdul Rashid Howlader, a former acting commander of the district’s Muktijoddha Sangsad.
Locals and families have demanded trial of those who named Liberation War organisers late abdul Latif Mirza and Khurshid Alam, who recently passed away as well, on the list.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq has apologised for the inclusion of a gazetted freedom fighter on the list of collaborators.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Mozammel said the government will retract the list should there be too many discrepancies in it. The list will otherwise be revised to reflect the necessary changes, he added.
The minister, however, said the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs was not responsible for the debacle: his ministry published the home ministry-prepared list unchanged.
The home ministry had attached notes to the list of the wartime collaborators of the Pakistani forces but the list has now been published without taking the annotations into account, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said in defence.
WCFFC Chairman MA Hasan said the list should be republished after swift crosschecks.
He also said it should be investigated whether any of those who prepared the list was descendants of Razakar.
Sector Commanders’ Forum Secretary General Harun Habib said calling the list the “first” one created confusion as well.
“Because 26,000 out of the 37,000 arrested under the Collaborators Act in 1973 were released as their offences were minor. Of the rest, 752 were tried and sentenced to different terms in jail.
“If they (government) followed the list of 11,000 anti-liberation people, Al-Badr, Razakars who were in jail on specific charges, there should not have been any room for confusion. The lists were gazetted at the time. These must be with some government agency now,” he said.
Ghatak Dala Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir said it was checking the names district-wise.
The committee will publish a report on Thursday on its findings, he added.
