Two shaheed minars in utter neglect in Kurigram town

PICTURE TELLS THE TALE: This badly damaged Shaheed Minar near Nasar Market in Kurigram town hardly gives the impression of a memorial to the Language Movement martyrs, thanks to the utter callousness of the authorities concerned. Photo: STAR

The first and second Shaheed Minars in the district town have remained in utter neglect, even in February, the month commemorating the Language Movement of 1952.
In 1964, a Shaheed Minar (memorial for Language Movement martyrs) was built at a corner of Gahor Park in Kurigram town.
"After the Shaheed Minar, the first in the town, was set up at Gahor Park on February 19 in 1964, police damaged it at night. Then the local students collected bricks, sand and cement and reconstructed the memorial the next day. They guarded it during the night and observed the 21st February through placing flowers on the memorial," said Samiul Haque Nantu, who was a high school student in Kurigram during the 1952 Language Movement.
"But Pakistani army demolished it during the Liberation War in 1971.
The memorial was reconstructed in 1972 and locals used to observe 21st February there. Later a Shaheed Minar was constructed at Ghoshpara of Kurigram in 1988 and it got the status as the central Shaheed Minar in the town.
"In 1968, a local political leader constructed the second Shaheed Minar in the town, beside a road near Nasar Uddin Market. Left uncared for years, it has got damaged," Nantu said.
During a recent visit, this correspondent found firewood kept for drying on the premises of the Shaheed Minar at Gahor Park while the memorial near Nasar Uddin market gives a pitiable look as four of its columns were badly damaged.