India and Bangladesh are jointly making efforts to trace graves of over 2,000 martyred freedom fighters of 1971 Liberation War, buried on the border in Tripura, West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya.
Quoting Indian officials, PTI reported that four nodal officers from the Indian side were appointed at Agartala, Kolkata, Guwahati and Shillong who would help Bangladeshi officials and their representatives to find the graves.
Lt Col (retd) Sajjad A Zahir, joint secretary of liberation war affairs ministry, told the Indian news agency that after thorough research, the Bangladesh authorities came up the conclusion that more than 2,000 martyred freedom fighters were laid into eternal rest in different spots of four Indian states of Tripura, West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya.
“I have identified 27 spots in India where the warriors of the Liberation War are buried,” Zahir said.
He said the final report about the location of graves was given recently to his ministry by Indian authorities.
He had visited Tripura a year ago and held talks with the state government officials for identifying the graves.
Zahir, who was conferred the Bir Protik award for his heroic effort during the war, said according to Dhaka’s estimates, 4,000 people had gone missing during the war.
The first success came to Zahir in December, 2007, when he traced the body of Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman at Hatimarachara, about 10km from Ambasa, the district headquarters of Dhalai and about 84km from Agartala.
Zahir had to struggle for five-and-a-half hours to exhume the remains before taking them back to the National Freedom Fighters’ Graveyard at capital’s Mirpur area.
Quoting Brahmanbaria Deputy Commissioner Nur Mohammad Majumder, who was in India last month, PTI said it was difficult to find the graves of the freedom fighters.
West Tripura District Magistrate Kiran Gitte said if Bangladesh gave a list of possible locations, the graves could be located with the help of local people and Bangladeshi officials.
Two graves of freedom fighters were identified at Tripura’s Ramnagar and Joynagar, Gitte said.