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Mass graves about to be obliterated for neglect

Star Country Desk
Fifteen mass graves of Liberation War martyrs in Sadar, Aditmari, Kaliganj and Hatibandha upazilas of Lalmonirhat have remained uncared for long due to lack of proper initiatives to preserve them.
Freedom fighters got only promises from the political leaders. They now are frustrated as all the mass graves especially the district's largest one in Wireless Colony area in the town remained neglected, reports our correspondent.
Freedom Fighter Abdul Hamid ofWireless Colony area said, about 620 people, including women and children, were brutally killed near the Lalmonirhat Railway Station (now known as Railway Rickshaw Stand).
After long 34 years of the country's independence, an initiative was taken by the district parishad in 2005 to build a monument in remembrance of the war heroes but the plan was never been implemented, he said.
Freedom Fighter Mahir Uddin of Store Para in the town said, "We (freedom fighters) sent project profiles seeking fund for taking care of mass graves of '71 in Lalmonirhat to the ministry concerned several times but we are yet to get any positive response."
According to Lalmonirhat District Muktijodhdha Sangsad members, the mass graves were found at Wireless Colony, Store Para, Stadium Para, Mission Para, Upyard Colony, Downyard Colony, Khedabagh, Barobari under Lalmonirhat sadar upazila, Swarnamoti Railway Bridge, Station Para under Aditmari upazila, Dalogram, Tusbhandar, Bhotmari, Kakina under Kaliganj upazila and Barokhata under Hatibandha upazila.
The district council move to build monuments at those places in memory of the martyrs went in vain as the governments did not come forward to implement the plan, said the com-
mander of Sadar upazila Muktijodhdha Sangsad, Abu BakkarSiddique.
"We also contacted the authorities concerned to build monuments but we got no respond due to unknown reason," he said.
He said, apart from people buried in the mass graves, about 350 others, including women and children, were killed in public at Barakhata village under Hatibandha upazila in 1971 while they were leaving for neighbouring India to take refuge.
District Commander of Muktijodhdha Sangsad in Lalmonirhat, Mezbah Uddin, yesterday urged the government to take steps to preserve the graves of the war heroes before they get lost forever just due to utter neglect.
In Caibandha, Coaler Chat killing ground in Sundarganj upazila is now on the verge of being obliterated due to alleged neglect and lack of proper renovation, reports our correspondent.
A portion of the spot has already been eroded away by the surging water of the River Teesta. Neither any renovation work was undertaken, nor was any monument or memorial pillar built despite repeated appeals.
Locals said, during the Liberation War, Pakistan occupation forces killed scores of men and women and dumped their bodies on the bank of the river. Pakistani troops brought them from prisons from nearby Chilmari and Ulipur upazilas of Kurigram district and later killed them brutally.
There are so far three major spots of killing by Pakistan forces but no memorial has been built on any of them despite repeated appeals to local administration or ministry concerned, said Golam Mostafa Ahmed, secretary of Sundarganj upazila Awami League.
He demanded steps to preserve the killing grounds and built memorials in those spots.