Struggling families of freedom fighters

The name of martyred freedom fighter Bocharam Das is on the memorial plaque in Lalmonirhat’s Hatibandha upazila. Photo: Star

A report published by The Daily Star on Thursday has brought to light the acute hardship that the family of a martyred freedom fighter is going through, who are yet to receive any official allowance from the government as they are entitled to. For the last 11 years, the only son of the family has been consistently requesting the concerned ministry to recognise his father's contributions during the liberation war, but to no avail. More perplexing is that both the government and the local Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) are aware of the war hero's identity, while the former had also promised his family that they would start getting benefits starting this year. But that promise has not been fulfilled yet. Why is that? Is it bureaucracy that is causing the delay? And for 11 years? Surely these matters can be solved with greater speed and efficiency and local officials can verify the claim and, if found true, expedite the process of providing allowance to the family.

Sadly, this is not an isolated case. Just three days ago, this daily reported a similar story where a living freedom fighter was not being able to get the allowance due to him. When the government had launched a verification process for drafting a new freedom fighters' list in 2017, this 70-year-old man submitted all the necessary documents to the Jatiya Muktijoddhha Council (National Freedom Fighters' Council) for his inclusion. Four years have passed since then, but the council is yet to decide whether to recognise this septuagenarian as a war hero or not.

We know that the government has made various provisions available to honour our freedom fighters, including a monthly allowance, five festival bonuses, free medical care and housing facilities for the wounded and uprooted war veterans. We also thank the prime minister who announced, on February 15, 2021, that the freedom fighter allowance is going to be increased from Tk 12,000 to Tk 20,000 after the announcement of the next budget.

But all these perks are not going to bear any fruit if the true war heroes and their families are excluded from the latest list of freedom fighters. Respective authorities like the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs and the above-mentioned council have to make sure that imposters claiming to be freedom fighters do not find their way into the official list using political influences, and that the real ones get their due acknowledgement in a proper and timely manner.