& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Freedom fighters yearn for better living

Sabrina Karim Murshed
After 33 years of independence, happiness still eludes Birangana Nazma Begum and Mosharraf Sheikh, freedom fighters, now struggling to survive.
Living in a slum in Mirpur Section-10, Nazma and her husband are facing the harsh reality of life, though theyfought for independence for a prosperous future.
Fifty-year-old Nazma now earns only Tk 30 a day by collect-ingjhut (rag and waste pieces of cloth from garment factories) while Mosharraf is a hawker.
"We tried to educate our four children despite all adversities but now it seems impossible for us," sobbed Mosharraf. He said the monthly freedom fighters' allowance they used to get since 2000 was stopped in August
2002.
The memories of the 1971 Liberation War still haunt Birangana Nazma. "They (Pakistan occupation forces) abducted me from my house in front of my family and shot my father when he protested," she recalled.
Kidnapped by the occupation forces with the help of collaborators in May 1971 from Bhajundi village in Moksudpur upazila of Gopalganj, Nazma, the then sixteen-year-old 'Kanan Bala,’ languished in a concentration camp for a month.
Bom in a Hindu family, Kanan Bala was deserted by her own family when freedom fighters rescued her from the camp. "My parents refused to accept me fearing social stigma. Then I married Mosharraf and became a Muslim, "she said. .
Mosharrafs family also abandoned him for marrying a tortured Hindu girl.
He said even their children did not know the fact until it came to light through media. "My elder daughter reacted when she came to know everything. But later she was convinced that it'smatter of pride to have such a brave moth er."
The freedom fighters' family was enlisted for allowance in the year 2000 but the government stopped the Tk-300 per month allowance two years later since the authorities thought it would need verification whether they were real freedom fighters.
"Do they need more evidence than this?" said Mosharrafshow-ing the mark of bullet injury in his shoulder he sustained during the Liberation War.
He said their names are on a single list of freedom fighters.
But officials said they are verifying the names of existing four lists and if anyone's name is found in at least two lists he or she would be entitled to get the allowance again.
The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has started work to make a fresh list of freedom fighters, which will be notified through a gazette. "We have decided to make a final list,” said Mamtaz Uddin, joint secretary ofthe ministry.
He earlier told Star City that those freedom fighters having their names in all the lists, or at least in two of them, arc accepted as 'indisputable' by the ministry.^But those names (hat exist in only one list are being investigated," he said.
"We are investigating so that the names of fake freedom fighters do not exist in the final list."
.Nazma and Mosharraf have
been identified as real freedom fighters by the local selection committee. However, Mosharraf said the committee has not sent the list to ministry as yet. "They said they would sent it only when the ministry asks for it."
When asked, theijoint secretary said the upazila selection committee headed by nirbahi officer is preparing the list. "They will decide on a priority basis whom to provide the allowance in line with the national policy and guidelines," he said.
A valid freedom fighter's certificate from the ministry and less than Tk 12,000 annual income are the criteria for get-ting the allowance. "If Mosharraf and Nazma are certified freedom fighters and if the committee finds them eligible, theywotjldgetitsoon."