78-year-old freedom fighter works as night guard

Seventy-eight-year-old Saidur Rahman, from Khochabari area of Lalmonirhat municipality, says that in 1971 he fought under company commander Alif Uddin in Sector No 5, in different areas of Nilphamari and Panchagarh districts. But the elderly gentleman, who is landless, currently works as a night guard at a poultry farm, earning just Tk 3,500 per month. He is not registered as a freedom fighter, he says, because a railway employee has falsely claimed his number.

"After independence, we went away to Dhaka where I peddled rickshaw for thirty years," he says, "so I was unaware of the freedom fighters' gazette and didn't enlist my name."

In 2005, taking advantage of Saidur's lengthy absence, one Shahidur Rahman, son of late Shahor Uddin of Sadeknagar village, used his identification number 42734 to enlist himself as a freedom fighter in Saidur's place, according to Saidur. "His date of birth is 1 August 1959 while mine is 1 July 1938," explains Saidur, "and neither Shahidur's name nor his father's name matches the records from India's Lalbarta list. How he enlisted himself in the gazette with my number I do not know."

For many years now Saidur has been attempting to correct the error, to no avail.

Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust's Welfare Department, and Abul Bashar, acting secretary (Administration) of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad's Central Command Council, issued certificates to Saidur Rahman on November 28, attesting to the correctness of Saidur's claim.

Ziauddin Tarique Ali, trusty and member secretary of Liberation War Museum, had issued another certificate to Saidur Rahman on November 19 to this effect.  

"I have submitted a written complaint to the Liberation War Affairs Ministry," says Saidur, "and I hope their verification committee will call me and Shahidur Rahman so that I can properly access my entitlements soon."

In the meantime, the alleged fake freedom fighter Shahidur Rahman continues to work as a fourth class employee of Bangladesh Railway in the Lalmonirhat office. Contacted, Shahidur says he is not interested in talking to any journalist in this regard but is ready to reply to the freedom fighters' verification committee if they contact him.

Freedom fighters in Lalmonirhat urge the concerned authorities to take prompt steps to settle the dispute and resolve the matter to ensure the genuine freedom fighter is matched to number 42734 immediately.

"My job as a night guard is insufferable," says Saidur. "It's really difficult to stay active throughout the night but I'm bound to do this job since I have no income alternative." Saidur lives with wife Hamida Begum, 68, and son Hamidul Islam, 40.