Children cry for justice

"My father was killed in front of my mother's eyes when she was three months pregnant. My grandfather had become blind and my grandmother got mentally ill after the incident," Ilora Muktadir said while recalling the memory of her father Mohammad Abdul Muktadir, a martyred intellectual.
Abdul Muktadir, a teacher of geology department of Dhaka University, was killed by Pakistani occupation forces on the DU campus in December 1971.
"The country achieved independence through supreme sacrifices made by thousands of people like my father. But when I see that there have been negotiations with the anti-liberation forces and their leaders, I feel that the sacrifice of my father had been useless," Ilora observed.
She made the remarks at a programme organised by the Liberation War Museum as part of its four-day celebrations marking the Victory Day. Rashid Haider moderated the session held at the museum.
Children of five martyred intellectuals recalled the memories of their fathers and demanded trial of the war criminals.
They also called on all to reject the war criminals -- local collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces such as Al Badr, Al Shams and Razakars -- in the upcoming national election in order to show respect to the martyrs of the Liberation War.
Kazi Saifuddin Mamun, son of martyred intellectual Kazi Shamsul Haq, observed that the anti-liberation elements still dare to deny the nine-month war.
He stressed the need for a united movement by the pro-liberation forces to foil the conspiracy of the anti-liberation forces against the country.
"When the entire nation had been celebrating victory after December 16 in 1971, my father and his friends were fighting against the local collaborators in the city's Mirpur area. They picked up my father in January, slaughtered him and dumped his body into a canal," said Parvin Akter Chowdhury, daughter of martyred intellectual Dr Golam Kibria Chowdhury.
Mizanur Rahman Talukder, son of martyred intellectual Abdul Wahab Talukder, said that while the family members of many martyrs are suffering acute economic hardship, the anti-liberation forces still dare to talk against the freedom fighters and the liberation war.
Later, students of UCEP School and artists of Muktijodhha Charcha Kendra (Rajshahi) and Chhayanaut performed at a cultural function.