The Liberation War of 1971 is a glorious chapter to our history. People from all walks of life- farmers, labourers, students, army, navy, and air-force joined in the war to fight against the atrocious Pakistan Army and their local collaborators, the Al-Badr and Razakars.
To recognize their limitless valour as the freedom fighters, seven martyrs of the Liberation War have been awarded the highest appellation, the Bir Shrestha.
However, it is regrettable that after 49 years of the Liberation War, not many steps have been taken to save memorials and ancestral places of the heroic sons, people say.
Locals in Barisal alleged that due to lack of maintenance for years, Bir Shrestha Shaheed Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir Memorial Museum and Library in Rahimganj village under Babuganj in Barisal are now at risk.
Erosion by the River Sugandha now threatens the museum and ancestral home of Jahangir.
Harun-or-Rashid, cousin of Jahangir said the museum, school, college after the name of the Birshreshtha and his ancestral home might anytime go into the bed of the river.
No caretaker or librarian has been yet appointed to take care, he alleged.
Visitors hardly come here and return with dissatisfaction to see the poor condition of the museum.
The present condition of the place is nothing to describe. The place is so dirty that the handful of public gatherings that took place here during the Victory Day festivals have stopped, too, said a college student.
Manjur Rahman, brother of Jahangir, said: “We urge the government to take immediate steps to save the memorial, school, college, and the home.”
Deputy Commissioner SM Ajior Rahman said: “We have already sent a letter to the higher authorities to sanction a budget to save the memorial, other establishments and ancestral home of Jahangir.”
“I hope the work will start soon,” he said.
According to reports, the government built the museum and library at Rahimganj village under Babuganj in 2008 to keep alive the memories of the valiant freedom fighter.
It was built as part of a project to construct seven memorial museums and libraries at the respective birthplaces of the seven Bir Shrestha.
The river has already swallowed a large part of the union including many establishments, croplands, roads, orchards, and so on and now it stands only 150 -200 meters away from the museum and library.
“Without immediate steps, the museum and library will disappear into the river,” said Manjur Rahman, brother of Mohiuddin Jahangir and president of the committee that runs the museum.
Expressing his fear, Manjur said the way Sugandha River erosion was approaching, the museum would be washed away in the upcoming monsoon.
Locals said the authorities had put sandbags on the river banks but it was not sufficient to save the area as well as the museum from being washed away.
Siddikur Rahman, nephew of Mohiuddin and caretaker of the museum, said there were about 4,000 books in the library, which remains open from 9am to 5pm daily. He said that people from all walks of life, especially youths and students, visit the establishment.
“Nothing but some copies of personal letters related to the memories of the Bir Shrestha are in the museum,” he said.
A management committee member said that the post of librarian of the museum and library was lying vacant for about one year. “If there is no librarian, for month after month, it is really difficult to manage the books,” he commented.
He also informed that jobs of the caretaker and librarian were still temporary.
Locals complained that there was no direct road from the Barisal headquarters to the museum, so it could not attract visitors from other parts of the district or from other districts.
Mohiuddin, an officer in the army, was born in 1949. During the war of independence, he was posted as commander of the Mehdipur (in Maldah district) sub-sector of sector 7.
Mohiuddin with a plan to destroy a machine-gun bunker of the enemy, and with an SMG in his left hand and a grenade in the right, he secretly seceded from the camp.
He crawled across the road, quickly rushed towards the building and instantly threw the grenade on the machine-gun bunker.
The explosion that followed caused the machine-gun bunker to be totally dismantled. However, an enemy bullet from a nearby two-storied building struck Mohiuddin in the forehead, leaving him dead on December 14.
