When will the complete list of freedom fighters be finalised?

Fifty-three years have passed since Bangladesh gained independence. Unfortunately, a precise and complete list of freedom fighters has yet to be finalized! This has caused suffering for genuine freedom fighters and the state alike. In the process of verification and correcting the list of freedom fighters, true heroes sometimes get excluded from the list. Consequently, they are deprived of the government-declared benefits. On the other hand, individuals who never fought in the war manage to get their names on the list through influence and reap the benefits. These impostors collect the monthly allowances and enjoy other benefits meant for genuine freedom fighters.

Whenever the Awami League government, which upholds the spirit of the Liberation War, has come to power, these benefits have been increased. According to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, currently, a freedom fighter receives a monthly allowance of 20,000 BDT, two annual festival allowances of 10,000 BDT each, a Bengali New Year allowance of 2,000 BDT, and a Victory Day allowance of 5,000 BDT. Additionally, they receive medical, educational, special loan, and public transportation benefits. Because of these enhanced benefits, many people aspire to get their names on the list of freedom fighters. Some of them are so influential that they eventually get included in the list!

The legal authority to create the list of freedom fighters lies with the National Freedom Fighters Council (Jamuka). However, they too have failed to create an accurate and precise list of freedom fighters. Because of this failure, in nearly every meeting, new names are added, or some are removed from the existing list. This has created a lack of clarity about the exact number of freedom fighters in the country.

Statistics support this issue. According to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, a total of 235,467 names have been gazetted as freedom fighters at different times. However, according to the budget branch of the Liberation War Ministry, allowances were allocated to 219,758 freedom fighters last January. Yet, in March 2021, during the Golden Jubilee of Independence, the government published an (incomplete) list of freedom fighters showing 147,537 names!

Jamuka reviews 33 types of documents to verify a freedom fighter. However, true freedom fighters do not carry these documents around. It is those who are desperate to get listed for state benefits who gather these documents through scheming.
In the past 53 years, there have been at least seven additions and removals in the list of freedom fighters. The age, definition, and criteria for recognition as a freedom fighter have changed even more, a total of 11 times.

In 1984, the Ershad government formed a national committee to prepare a list of freedom fighters. Using the lists collected by the Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust formed during Bangabandhu's government, the list from the East Bengal Regimental Center in Chittagong, and lists obtained from India, this committee prepared a list showing 102,458 freedom fighters.

Every time there has been an attempt to correct and finalize the list, the number of freedom fighters has increased! Until an accurate and complete list of freedom fighters is created, this number will continue to grow.