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Ctg neglects mass graves of martyrs

Minhaj Uddin, ctg
Over four decades past the 1971 Liberation War the 70 or so mass graves in Chittagong city are yet to be properly marked and preserved.
As a result, some of the lands containing tangible evidence of the Pakistani occupation army and their local collaborators' atrocities are being lost.
The sole plaques Chittagong Muktijoddha Sangshad erected marking two mass graves, in Kattali’s Nath Para and in Pahartali, are fading and have no detailed description, rendering them useless.
A recent visit to Nath Para revealed clothes left to dry on a railing bordering the site. Sakhina Begum, one of the locals, admitted having no clue of what it was.
OnMarch31,1971, atleast37 people were killed and buried there. Narayan Chandra Boisnav, whose brother, father and uncle were among the 37, expressed his frustration recently.
"It seems the government is not interested...They spend a huge amount of money in the name of the Liberation War but not for preserving killing sites," he told The Daily Star.
Similar thoughts were expressed by Bhupen Chowdhury, whose uncle Dinesh Kami Nath was dumped there after being dismembered into six pieces.
The Pahartali mass grave bears special significance for over 11,000 skulls were found there, the largest discovery in the city. But most of the 1.25-acre land has been occupied by a multi-storied building, housing a private university, whose construction was stopped in 2010 following a writ petition.
Informing of another grave, in South Patenga Shilpara, where bodies of 36 people were dumped, Shukumar Shil, whose father miraculously escaped the massacre with bullet injuries, said a plaque would have at least "reminded coming generations of the massacre".
Ekatturer Muktijuddhe Sohor Chattagramer Nirjatan Kendro O Badhaybhumi, authored by Shakhawat Hossain Majnu and published in 1994, states of 78 mass killing and torture sites he found after the war.
Shakhawat opines that the Pahartali site could be preserved as the central one detailing all the others. "The government can acquire the privately owned lands to preserve them," he added.
Another book, Pramanno Dolil Muktijudhe Chattagram, of Prof Gazi Saleh Uddin published in 2012, lists 74 sites based on police cases, 45 of which are in government land, 22 in private and seven yet to be known.
A committee could be formed to preserve and look after the sites, suggested Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, presently researcher on the Liberation War who had led guerrilla operations in Chittagong city.
Chittagong district Deputy Commissioner Mesbah Uddin said their office identified 67 sites in 2010 and preserving those would be "expensive".
"We received a letter from the Liberation War affairs ministry last October asking for the current condition...We would send the list and description by this month. If the ministry allocates money, we will start preservation works," he said.