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Original of independence proclamation missing

Shakhawat Liton
The original copies of the country's proclamations of independence, formation of the first government, and the laws' continuance enforcement order of 1971 are missing from government custody.
Senior officials of the cabinet division, who are responsible for preserving the historic documents, do not know how the originals got lost.
They said when the current caretaker government in April this year handed over some historic documents to the National Archives for permanent preservation, the original documents of the country's birth were not found.
"Original copies of the documents were not in the cabinet division's custody. We had photocopies of those, which we handed over to the National Archives," Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder toldThe Daily Star.
Asked how the originals went missing, he expressed his ignorance about the matter.
Talking to The Daily Star about the matter, HT Imam, the country's first cabinet secretary, said the original copy of the proclamation of independence was definitely in government custody, which was
also published in an official gazette on May 23,1972.
HT Imam, also the cabinet secretary to the Mujibnagar government, the first ever interim government pf Bangladesh which led the liberation war, said it is really unfortunate for the nation that the original copy of the April 10, 1971 proclamation of independence through which the first government was formed and the March 26, 1971 declaration of independence was approved, are missing.
Barrister Amir-ul Islam, who drafted the proclamation of independence that worked as the provisional constitution of Bangladesh through the liberation war, said the draft was hand written and some copies were made before it was proclaimed in Mujibnagar in 1971.
"It's unfortunate that the originals of the historic documents are missing. It's all of our responsibility to find the originals," Amir told The DailyStar.
Officials of the cabinet division however are not aware since when the original copies of the documents have been missing.
Erstwhile senior government officials, who worked in the cabinet division in the immediate aftermath of the country's independ-
ence, however apprehend that the originals of the historic documents could have been lost, removed, or destroyed with ill motives along with some other important documents regarding trials of war criminals, after the August 15,1975 coup d'etat.
Unfortunately, successive governments showed no care about the loss and made no move to recover the originals.
Even after being aware of the loss, the cabinet division still has made no move to locate the originals, official sources said.
On April 2 this year, the caretaker government handed over to the National Archives three volumes of original historic documents of appointments and oaths of the presidents, vice-presidents, and the prime ministers of Bangladesh, and of the proceedings of cabinet meetings during the period between 1971 and 1982.
But it provided the archives with only photocopies of the proclamation of independence, and the laws' continuance enforcement order of 1971, published in official gazettes after the independence, archives sources said.
A photocopy of the hand written original proclamation of the formation of Mujibnagar government was also given to the archives. The document was signed by all cabinet members of the first interim government except the president, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, since he was interned in a Pakistani jail at the time.
Syed Nazrul Islam was elected the vice-president and Tajuddin Ahmed the prime minister of the first Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
In absence of the president, the vice-president was empowered to exercise the powers, duties and responsibilities of the president.
Through exercising the power conferred on Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam by the proclamation ofindependence on April 10, 1971, he issued the laws' continuance enforcement order the same day to ensure continuation of all laws that had existed in erstwhile East Pakistan till March 25.1971.
The proclamation of independence also provided the first government of the country with the fundamental instrument of law as well as an interim constitution during the war of liberation, which was in effect even in liberated Bangladesh until the promulgation of the current constitution on December 16. 1972.