It took nearly five decades for independent Bangladesh to come up with an initial list on how many Bengalis collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces and committed crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, but the list sadly has come out faulty.
The first ever list of 10,789 collaborators of Pakistan stirred controversies from all quarters after it was released by the Liberation War Affairs Ministry on Sunday, as it includes names of known freedom fighters and pro-liberation individuals.
This year's Victory Day celebyeration on December 16 was a little different for the people of the country because of the list, published after 48 years of independence. But the faulty list has led to anything but gloom and criticism from all around.
There are also reports that the list contains the names of many individuals multiple times.
Since Monday, protests were held in a number of districts around the country, slamming the Liberation War Affairs Ministry and calling for immediate correction; while some even demanded the annulment of the published list.
In the light of all this, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, whose offices were responsible for preparing the list, traded blame over the errors on Tuesday.
Talking to reporters after an event in Dhaka, Mozammel said: “This list was already prepared. We just published what the Home Ministry gave us... The list will be withdrawn if it faces am massive amount of complaints.”
He said they were now collecting evidence based on complaints.
“If any name is mistakenly included, we will drop it after verification once any application is filed. We are sorry for the unintentional error in the published list,`` said a press release from his ministry, quoting Mozammel, later in the day.
On the other hand, Home Minister Kamal blamed Mozammel’s office, saying: “They should have properly scrutinized the Razakar list before publishing it.”
“But the Liberation War Affairs Ministry did not. They should have,” he said while addressing a program in the capital.
He added: “Based on a request from the Liberation War Affairs Ministry, we send them a list of those who had cases under the Collaborators Order 1972. But we did mention that some of the cases have been withdrawn, but that has not properly appeared in the published list.
“They should have been more careful before release.”
While experts called for immediate correction, Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir rejected the list and said that they were working on collecting detailed information regarding this matter.
Both ministers’ statements, meanwhile, clearly indicate that no development or work regarding the list took place in the last 48 years.
Shortly after the 1971 war, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had enacted the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order, 1972, to try those who collaborated with Pakistan.
Until November 30, 1973, the government had arrested 37,471 collaborators under the order, but a general amnesty was declared for them in the same year.
The amnesty, however, was not applicable to those who committed criminal offences like murder, rape and arson.
Later, in 1975, the order was repealed and about 11,000 people, who were in custody at the time, were freed, according to Liberation War Affairs Ministry officials.
Dishonouring the greatest sons
Since the collaborators’ list was released, all it has done is draw anger and frustration from humiliated members of families of Liberation War martyrs and veterans and pro-liberation individuals, whom also include many from the Hindu community.
Freedom fighter Advocate Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, whose name is on the list, told reporters in Barisal on Tuesday that it would have been better for him to die, before seeing his name on it.
“After 48 years of independence, my name and my mother Usha Rani Chakraborty’s name has appeared on the list of Razakars. I’m very shocked and I don’t know what to say,” he said, reports our district correspondent Anisur Rahman Swapan.
Tapan and his daughter Manisha Chakraborty, a Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) leader, also burnt copies of the list on Tuesday during a protest organized by the BSD district unit condemning the error.
The name of the district’s renowned Language Movement veteran Mihir Lal Dutta is also on the list, even though he fought in the war and survived a gunshot during battle in 1971. He died on January 20, 2007.
Venting anger, his son Shuvabrata Dutta demanded punishment of those involved in preparing the list.
Mihir was among 26 Hindu community members and six women mentioned as Razakars on the list, which contains the names of around 1,000 collaborators in total from Barisal alone.
Abdul Hye Serniabat, elder brother of Bangabandhu’s brother-in-law Shaheed Abdur Rab Serniabat, was also named as a Pakistan collaborator on the list.
Hye’s son Aman Serniabat said: “We can’t understand how this happened. We reject this list.”
MAG Kabir Bhulu, a wounded war veteran of Barisal, also said: “I knew Abdul Hye Serniabat personally, and he was a very good and gentle man. He was not connected with anti-liberation forces in any way.”
‘Immediate action must’
The chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s only war crimes tribunal, Advocate Ghulam Arief Tipoo, is a Rajshahi-based 1952 Language Movement veteran and wartime organizer of freedom fighters, but his name is on the list too.
Apart from him, the names of two other lawyers — Advocate Md Mohsin and Advocate Abdus Salam — of Rajshahi Division also appeared on the list, even though they are known as either freedom fighters or Awami League leaders.
The matter has left the locals of Rajshahi confused.
“I am a freedom fighter receiving allowance from the government, but my name is on the list of Pak collaborators,” a shocked Tipoo told reporters on Tuesday.
Tipoo, who was also awarded the Ekushey Padak earlier this year, added: “The government must find out how the name of freedom fighters ended up on this list and take necessary actions immediately.”
The Rajshahi units of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad and Sector Commanders' Forum — both leading organizations of 1971 war veterans — on Tuesday also issued statements, vehemently protesting the errors, reports our district correspondent Dulal Abdullah.
The organizations also demanded exemplary punishment of those responsible for the “grave mistake.”
Protests spreading
The collaborators’ list also includes the name of late Mojibul Haque from Patharghata upazila, Barguna, who was the Patharghata Thana Awami League president and president of Patharghata Sangram Parishad and Barguna Mahakuma Mukti Sangram Committee during the 1971 war.
Condemning the error, local freedom fighters and people of Patharghata, alongside Mojbul’s family members, demonstrated and held a rally at Russel Square in the upazila town on Tuesday, reports our district correspondent Suman Shikdar.
The protesters also submitted a memorandum, with signatures from 71 freedom fighters, to the upazila nirbahi officer, drawing the attention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in this regard.
Rejaul Haque and Shyadul Islam Talat, son and grandson of Mojibul, respectively, both said that the man, who was also fondly known locally as “Noya Bhai,” was an Awami League supporter till his last breath.
“And his name ends up on the Razakar list? This is what he gets for sacrificing everything for the country and for his party?” they said.
The collaborators’ list also includes names of Sirajganj’s freedom fighters Mirza Abdul Latif and Advocate Khurshid Alam, a former Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal leader.
A two-time MP and former president of Awami League’s Sirajganj district unit, Latif was infamous among Pakistani army and its collaboration forces, for leading a group of freedom fighters called “Palashdanga Jubo Shibir” during the war.
While the errors on the list drew harsh criticisms from various local quarters, local freedom fighters are also scheduled to demonstrate at Ullapara and the district town today, reports our district correspondent Aminul Islam Khan Rana.
Urging the government to find out whether there was any conspiracy, Latif’s daughter Selina Mirza Mukti told reporters that it was not only humiliating for her father alone, but for all freedom fighters.
She also demanded the resignation of the Minister Mozammel Huq and immediate correction of the list.
Bogra angry too
Inclusion of names of freedom fighters, Awami League leaders and pro-liberation individuals on the first instalment of the list has also generated a wave of anger in Bogra.
Of the 30 collaborators from Adamdighi upazila mentioned on the list, at least seven have been identified as either freedom fighters, former lawmaker or local veteran Awami League leaders.
They are freedom fighters Kosim Uddin Ahmed, who is also a former Awami League MP, Monsur Ali and Jahan Ali; and Awami League leaders Amirul Islam, Foyez Uddin Ahmed, Majibur Rahman and Taher Uddin Sardar.
At an event organized to honour the freedom fighters of Adamdighi on Tuesday, local ruling party leaders expressed anger and condemned the flawed list, reports our district correspondent Nazmul Huda Nasim.
Liberation War veteran Abdul Hamid said: “How are the names of those who fought to free the country and have been Awami League activists and leaders for so long on this list?”
“Those are responsible for this debacle must be punished,” he demanded.
