25,500 fake freedom fighters in gazette!

The government of Awami League, a party which led the 1971 liberation war process, has not been able to make a correct and complete list of freedom fighters during its 10-year stint.

Also, investigation confirms, no action was taken against those who were found to have used fake certificates of freedom fighers to receive official benefits.

"It's a failure of our government that we couldn’t make an accurate list of freedom fighters," liberation affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huq admitted.

The government is going to end its current tenure in January 2019, leaving around 25,500 fake freedom fighters in the official list.

Mozammel Huq, who took the charge of liberation affairs ministry in 2014, however, alleged that about 22,000 fake freedom fighters were included in the list made during the BNP rule.

During the AL's previous five-year rule between 2008 and 2014, around 11,500 fake freedom fighters were included in the official list, records show.

The aggregate number of fake freedom fighters stands at 33,500.

Out of the figure of freedom fighters, the minister claimed, gazette of around 8,000 was cancelled.

Even in that case, some 25,500 fake freedom fighters stilll remain in the official list.

Furthermore, Prothom Alo investigation did not find the proof in favoir of the minister's claim.

The officials at the concerned section of the ministry said gazette notification of about 4,000 fake freedom fighters were cancelled, but they later secured court orders to keep the names in the list.

According to section 416 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is a crime when a person claims to be a freedom fighter without being a genuine one. He or she shall be sentened to jail for three years for providing false information and for seven years for receiving allowances showing fake freedom fighter's certificate.

Let alone taking action, the minister admitted, the government could not identify the fake freedom fighters.

"It is true we couldn't identify the fake freedom fighters and take action against them," Mozammel Huq admitted.

"Still, we didn't include any non-freedom fighters into the list."

Records show the list of freedom fighters was changed and the number raised whenever a new government took office.

The list of freedom fighters has been changed six times in 47 years, said the records.

The age and definition of freedom fighters have also been changed 11 times. On 16 January 2018, the government downwardly revised the age of freedom fighers by six months to bring many under the coverage of freedom fighters’ status and dolling out official benefits.

A 2014 probe found five top officials guilty of using fake freedom fighters' certificates for promotion.

The certificates of the then health secretary M Niaz Uddin Mia, public service commission's the then secretary AKM Amir Hossain, the liberation affairs ministry's former secretary KH Masud Siddique and joint secretary of the same ministry Abul Kashem were cancelled.

The certificate of former secretary Molla Wahiduzzaman is also cancelled.

They were allowed to go on voluntary retirement instead of receiving any punishment for using fake certificates.

Similar allegations were raised against five teachers of Dhaka University. No actions were taken against them, however.

The Anti-Corruption Commission recommended the public administration ministry take legal and departmental action. But none of them was sued in the past four years.

Allegations have it that some 16 officials including a secretary took certificates although they did not declare that they were freedom fighters. Actions were not taken against them as well.

In January 2017, the government started making a correct list of freedom fighters and received around 150,000 applications.

In the face of allegations of massive corruption and nepotism in making the list, the government halted publication of the new list. Around Tk 100 million was spent for the purpose.

"It's unfortunate that the Awami League government couldn't make a complete list of freedom fighters in 10 years. It is an utter failure," Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee president Shariar Kabir told Prothom Alo.

According to the government, the official list contains 230,438 freedom fighters -- dead and alive.

During the BNP-Jamaat alliance government between 2001 and 2006, a committee led by the then cabinet secretary Saadat Husain included 198,889 freedom fighters in the official list through gazatte.

In 2009, the AL government alleged that over 70,000 fake freedom fighters were included during the BNP tenure.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam.