Roads, Structures: Remove collaborators’ names in three months, HC directs

The High Court yesterday directed the government to remove the names of Pakistani collaborators from roads and structures across the country and rename them after freedom fighters in 90 days.

The court also ordered the LGRD and education secretaries to submit a report after complying with the directive on February 23 next year. It also set February 25 for passing further order on this issue, Deputy Attorney General Amit Dasgupta told The Daily Star.

The bench of Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Ahmed Sohel came up with the directive while hearing a writ petition filed by Prof Muntassir Mamoon, a teacher of the history department of Dhaka University, and Shahriar Kabir, an eminent writer, in May 2012.

They stated in the petition that many structures have been named after the leaders of anti-liberation forces at different times after independence, which is against the spirit of the Liberation War.

They mentioned that a road in Khulna and an auditorium of Islamic University were named after Khan A Sabur and Shah Azizur Rahman, who were collaborators and leaders of anti-liberation forces.

In the writ petition, they also sought necessary order upon the government to remove the names of alleged collaborators from roads and structures.

On May 14, 2012, another HC bench had directed the government to change the names immediately.

The court had also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the names of Pakistani collaborators should not be removed and why it should not be directed to rename those after freedom fighters.