As the country has just celebrated its 55th Independence Day and remembered the solemn sacrifice and bravery of our Freedom Fighters and martyrs of the Liberation War, one thing still remains frustrating that the nation is yet to know the actual number of Freedom Fighters.

In 1971, the brave sons of the soil fought for the country’s liberation and made great sacrifices. So, after the country’s independence, the state took the initiative to honour them and recognise their great contributions. But it is quite unfortunate that over the period of time, some greedy people managed to get enlisted as Freedom Fighters although they were not and thereby obtained the advantages that the state allocates to the heroic soldiers.

During the past 15 years of the Awami League regime, the list of the Freedom Fighters has allegedly been manipulated in a very shameful way. Even ministers, MPs and high-ranking government officials of the ousted Awami League regime fraudulently collected fake certificates to get benefits. Reportedly, the Freedom Fighters Council recommended more than 18000 new people for the enrolment as Freedom Fighters during these years. But how many of them were real role during the Liberation War is quite doubtful. Earlier in December, the authorities concerned took a very good move by declaring that if people who had fraudulently enlisted as freedom fighters voluntarily withdrew their names from the list, they would be acquitted from legal punishment. And following that, some 10000 to 12000 people have now reportedly applied for the withdrawal of their names!

This makes it quite obvious that this list has been subject to huge manipulation. Unquestionably, the Freedom Fighters’ is a list of honoured people to whom Bangladesh owes a lot. But the entry of fake people has now contaminated its purity. This is high time the government purified it and delisted those individuals who were fraudulently enlisted, though they are not Freedom Fighters. The authorities concerned must take a proper measure to ensure that a flawless database is formed which will help identify the real Freedom Fighters.