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Concrete stones bury liberation war spirit

journo Nadeem finds his father's grave after decades of quiet but desperate searches

Bss, Chittagong
After decades of quiet but desperate searches, journalist Nadeem Qadir discovered the grave of his illustrious father, Lt Col Muhammad Abdul Qadir, the senior most Bangalee military officer to embrace martyrdom at the very onset of the liberation war in 1971.
But fresh agonies gripped Nadeem on finding concrete on the mass grave where the slain officer lies along with 17 other martyrs of 1971. An apartment stands there belittling the spirit of the glorious war.
Nothing has so far been done to save the grave and honour the officer despite renewed campaigns for identification and preservation of 1971 killing fields and mass graves to honour the martyrs. The journalist in an application informed the liberation war affairs ministry of the matter.
Nadeem carried out a relentless search for clues about the whereabouts of his father who was arrested by die Pakistani occupation soldiers
as they found him to be a key figure in organising the armed resistance while he was serving on deputation as the controller of operations at the then East Pakistan Oil and Gas Development Corporation, now renamed as Petrobangla.
After over three and half decades, Nadeem stood in front of die grave for the first time with restrained emotion and then prayed to the Almighty as at long last his investigation came to an end as he found the people who witnessed and joined the funeral and burial of die valiant soldier along with the 17 other martyrs near Chittagong Medical College.
An independent subsequent investigation by die army also reconfirmed the detection while a wide media coverage on the discovery of the martyrs mass grave prompted Nadeem to expect his father and the 17 other martyrs would now get an honour in the independent Bangladesh for which they sacrificed their lives.
“Our family never sought
any financial assistance or other help from the government or anybody else. We just want from the state the honour of a 1971 martyr... let him be buried with state honour and let his memories be preserved," he said.
In line with an appeal by Nadeem, the army headquarters in early 2008 formed a four-member committee headed by Brig Gen Abul Hossain, which after a detailed investigation reconfirmed it to be the grave ofCol Qadir and 17 others.
In a recommendation, the committee suggested construction of a memorial at the square in front of the mass grave, extraction of remains of the colonel from under the building for reburial with state honour at Chittagong Cantonment or Qadirabad Cantonment in Natore, the garrison of army engineers named after Qadir.
It also suggested launching of a public library on the ground floor of the building constructed on the mass grave at least as a mark of honour for Qadir and other martyrs while
the proposals were now pending with the concerned minis-try-
The High Court in a recent verdict also said if a killing field or mass grave could be identified at any place, the government could preserve it.
"It has now become our moral responsibility to do something since we came to know about the finding and we are working on it... Col Qadir was the senior most army officer who sacrificed his life in 1971," State Minister for Liberation War Ministry Tajul Islam told the news agency.
The assurance, however, is expected to negate frustrations in the minds of Nadeem, his expatriate younger brother and their elder sister, who now expect some developments by December 16 this year for honouring their father.