<i>Missing of documents still a mystery</i>

The mystery over disappearance of three trunks of documents of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra has not yet been solved.
No probe body was formed to unearth how and to whom those documents did go.
The trunks were found in the storeroom of Transcription Service at Shahbagh in the city in 1991, twenty years after the country's independence.
It was decided that the documents would be given to the National Museum after conducting a probe by a committee. But the documents could not be found later.
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra artist Maloy Kumar Gangulee said late journalist Monajat Uddin had traced out the trunks on the basis of one of his (Gangulee's) statements.
The trunks were containing Liberation War documents and those were brought from the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. A report by Monajat Uddin on those trucks was published in the daily Sangbad on December 14, 1991.
One of the founders of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, poet Belal Mohammad told the news agency that he had supervised the loading of the documents in trunks in Mujibnagar. He was accompanied by his colleague Sazzad at that time.
The document-loaded trunks reached Narayanganj via Hugli by SS Sandra Streamer. Then those were taken to Shahbagh radio station.
There were files, papers, documents, duty rosters, and scripts of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra in the trunks.
Maloy Gangulee said one of the trucks was opened in 1991, but the documents were again kept in the trunk and it was sealed off.
A committee was formed with the then Transcription Service Director Hassan Jamal as its chief to hand over the trunks to the National Museum.
Hassan Jamil said he was transferred to Agargaon radio station after he informed the media about the trunks. Therefore, he could not know anything about the fate of the trunks.
He said he did not see what were there in the trunks, as those were never opened.
He said late DDG Mano Mostafa had insisted on opening the trunks, fearing that those might contain something against him. But those were never opened.
Hassan Jamal claimed that the trunks were handed over to the National Museum. But he could not say when and under whose supervision those were given to the museum.
Poet Belal Mohammad could not remember the formation of any probe body, but he believes that the documents of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra have been destroyed in a planned way.
He said some of the documents were, however, published in books.
Belal Mohammad said the documents should not have been lost. It is very sad that those were lost after recovery 20 years into the independence, he added.
Bangladesh Betar Director General AKM Shamim Chowdhury said he would look into the matter. The value of those documents is immense, he observed.