Govt plans special tribunal to try fake freedom fighters

The government is toying with the idea of making a new law to catch the fake freedom fighters and put them on trial in a new special court.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Muzammel Hoque on Wednesday told reporters that they were thinking about finalising the list of those people by the end of next month.

He said they would also try to institute the new tribunal to settle possible cases against the fraud.

The minister shared his plans at a time when the media is abuzz with the news of 16 top government officials obtaining fake freedom-fighter certificates.

These officials did not say they had fought the war in 1971 when they joined office, according to media reports. They had allegedly obtained the fake credentials to extend their service tenure by a year.

Asked what steps his ministry was taking, minister Hoque said, "The main problem is that many have taken the certificate even without fighting in the War of Independence. They got that by submitting false documents."

"Our first task is to identify those who obtained the certificates by providing false information. Certificates of the fake freedom fighters will be cancelled after their listing ends, and they will face legal action for that."

In September, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs found proof that five secretaries had fake freedom-fighter certificates.

The ministry the same month cancelled the certificates and gazettes of four of them on ACC recommendation.

Two of them resigned voluntarily recently while another was retired.

It was found recently that 16 more officials had also managed to get their hands on the certificates through illegal means.

Names of these 16 officials have been published by a daily, but the minister allowed no scope to ask about them.

They are - Agriculture Secretary SM Nazmul Islam, Expatriates and Overseas Employment Secretary Khondaker Showkat Hossain, Planning Division Secretary Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, Primary and Mass Education Secretary Quazi Akhter Hossain and OSD Secretary Nurul Haque.

Apart from them, former public administration secretary ASM Ali Kabir, former secretary Phani Bhusan Chowdhury, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office Shaikh Md Wahid-Uz-Zaman, former liberation war affairs secretary Feroz Kibria and former additional secretary Khalilur Rahman were also named in the report.

The list also includes BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose, RAJUK Chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan, PSC member Main Uddin Khandaker, former Tariff Commission chairman AKM Azizul Huq, Bangladesh Ambassador to Vietnam Shahab Ullah and non-cadre former official Muhammad Abul Hossain.

The liberation war affairs minister on Wednesday said they were trying to identify those involved in the fraud and working on revoking the fake certificates.

Muzammel Hoque added that so far over 3,000 such certificates had been cancelled.

Asked whether the ministry would sue the fraud secretaries, he said they were waiting to see whether any of the accused would file a writ petition against the cancellation of the certificate.

He said they would take a different measure which would not consume time. "We’re thinking about a new law for these cases, a tribunal is needed for quick results.”

A tribunal in line with the current law could only provide quick results in cases like recovering government land or cancelling fake certificates, he added.

The minister said that he was in favour of setting up a tribunal to avoid procrastination of trials.

Hoque, however, could not give a specific deadline on setting up the tribunal when asked.

If media reports were anything to go by, he saud, there could be no fewer than 100,000 people who had obtained fake freedom-fighter certificates.

“If the number is that high, we'll have to settle this fast. We'll begin the trial process once the list is finalised."