General Moin U Ahmed bitterly criticized the politicians of the past three and a half decades for keeping the people divided and keeping themselves busy in corrupt practices and money minting. General Ahmed was addressing the freedom fighters who fought unitedly, shoulder to shoulder with the army, against the occupation army of Pakistan in 1971.

The chief of the Bangladesh Army played host in the first ever formal reception given by our armed forces to the valiant sons of the soil who staked their lives in the Liberation War in 1971. He was terribly hurt that our freedom fighters had been perpetually ignored, and that never before had a formal evaluation of their great contribution to the nation been made.

One hundred freedom fighters present at the reception ceremony were presented with a crest and a certificate of investiture. This would be a recurrent function every year, he promised. The general exhorted the freedom fighters and all patriotic forces in the country to reunite and wage a relentless war against corruption, nepotism, extortion, terrorism and other unlawful practices.

The army chief made a direct reference to the failure of the outgoing government of the BNP-led 4-party alliance. He particularly alluded to the miserable plight of the taxpayers due to continuous power failure. He regretted that over the past five years no tangible effort was made by the political government to improve the power sector.

General Ahmed said that about Taka twenty thousand crore was smuggled out of the country from this sector alone by vested interests in the government. Yet another retired Major General, Mohammed Ibrahim Bir Patik, said that now was the time for compiling a comprehensive list of the rajakars and putting them on trial for their treacherous role during the liberation war.

The C-in-C and his colleagues in the Bangladesh army spoke with firm conviction that it was high time for the whole nation to be united again, with the same spirit and dedication they had in the War of Liberation. The army chief exhorted all present to wage a war against corruption, and to deploy all their efforts and zeal in rebuilding the country in line with the dream of our valiant freedom fighters.

He proposed that the present government should put on public auction all the seized expensive motor vehicles of the corrupt politicians and their benefactor businessmen. He suggested that a hospital for the poor and have-nots should be built with the sales proceeds of those vehicles. He also felt that it was incumbent upon the government to bring back from abroad the money which some of the corrupt politicians and businessmen had deliberately drained out of the country.

The reception for the freedom fighters in the ninth division of the army, held on March 27, was also addressed, by the first chief of the Bangladesh army General M Shafullah, Bir Uttam and Major Rafiqul Islam, Bir Uttam. Besides, noted cultural activist and veteran freedom fighter Asaduzzamn Noor addressed the gathering.

The speakers in this reunion of the freedom fighters, popularly known as Mukhtijodha, rekindled the light of hope. Even the wounded and the disabled ones on wheel-chairs beamed with joy, their eyes glowing with the radiance of the days when they returned from the war front in December, 1971.

Those who couldn't join this memorable assembly raised their heads from beneath the debris of utter destitution. Their feeble voices, strangulated by miserable plights, seemed to have regained instantly the lost vigour to cry out for honourable salvation. They have asked the present caretaker government to return them the piece of land at Mirpur which has been forcibly occupied by some vested quarters. The ignored faction of the Mukhtijoddha Sangsad has also raised its voice against the infiltrators, so as to re-install the genuine freedom fighters and to run the Sangsad independently.

The total ransacking of the Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust by corrupt politicians has also come up for immediate intervention of the government before it faces total collapse. Taking all these together a new era can be considered to have been ushered in, and the initiative taken by our army chief will hopefully salvage our valiant war heroes from the vicious pangs of neglect of three and a half decades.

General Ahmed felt sorry that some disgruntled and evidently misled members of the armed services took part in the diabolic, dastardly criminal act of killing the great man who gave us an independent country to be proud of. His words have been so reassuring and positive that they even moved the conscience of some of the advisers of the care-taker government. The instant endorsement by Barrister Moinul Hosain of the views expressed can be cited. He, too, was optimistic about the repatriation of Capt. Mohiuddin, an absconding accused in Bangabandhu murder case recently arrested in USA, and about the conclusion of the legal proceedings against those already convicted.

It was indeed a strange coincidence that around the same time the whole nation was practically jolted by the speech of the Bangladesh army chief, the six JMB men including Shayek Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Banglabhai were hanged to death in the dim hours of March 29. Such firm action on the part of the present government has been so much reassuring that the nation will look forward to seeing an identical action in respect of the convicts in Bangabandhu murder case, without any further delay.

In the meantime, Sheikh Hasina, now in America, has expressed her sincere gratitude to the Army Chief Lt. Gen. Moin U Ahmed for his statement on Bangabandhu. She would be expecting expeditious action in respect of the convicts, which would vindicate her right for justice, being his eldest child. Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil also thanked the General for his very generous views on the whole case.

The whole nation will await something positive about the case in no time. The ends of justice, though belated, must be upheld, and the father of the nation must be irreversibly re-installed. This will efface the slur of ingratitude stamped on our national image.

Kazim Alauddin Ahmed is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.