Unlike Mr. Monir, my father was based in the UK at that time and wanted to return to his motherland to fight against the occupying Pakistani forces. But my elder brother and I were very young and my mother knew little or no English. So, he decided that he would better serve the needs of Bangladesh by remaining in the UK and was instrumental in setting up an office where collections could be made from the Manchester region. That office did their best to help the Bangladeshi people with food, medicine and military supplies.

As all kinds of communications stopped between East and West Pakistan, one relative in the military who was imprisoned along with thousands of other Bengalis in the West used to send letters to Bangladesh via my father in the UK. Slowly but surely, hundreds of letters were redirected by my father during the war, at his own expense. After the Pakistani military surrendered, letters continued to pour in but my father stopped redirecting them because things got easier shortly thereafter. Many of these letters were unopened and for posterity, they have remained closed for over 30 years since they were never meant for our review.

In December 2000, my mother and I presented these 20-30 'War Correspondence' to Mr. Akku Chowdhury at the Liberation War Museum who, together with the Trustees, have done and are continuing to do, an excellent job in preserving the true account of the war and maintaining a precise record of the thousands of individuals like Mr. Monir's father who contributed to the independence of Bangladesh. These letters I refer to can be viewed at the Museum and I would strongly encourage Mr. Monir plus others in the same situation to visit the Liberation War Museum and ensure that their relatives' efforts are acknowledged.

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I was touched deeply by Moni's letter (September 3) in this column about his freedom-fighter father. His letter revived in me the feeling long since dead for the freedom fighters of Bangladesh that we once loved and respected as our heroes -- around whom our hopes and dreams were built.

The tragedy of Bangladesh has been our failure to honour and respect the likes of Moni's father. Worse still has been the fact that we have honoured as freedom fighters instead a large number of people who, unlike Moni's father, participated in our war of liberation from the safety of Indian sanctuary. Even worse is the fact that this large section, not satisfied with what they took from the country by fraudulent means, had ensured that their children too get the same privileges and benefits that they themselves extracted from the country. We have also been told by those who want to give a correct perception to our history for our projonmo that it is not Moni's father but those who ran away from the battle field are our freedom fighters!

The strength of the liberation war was the total support of the people behind the cause. But the actual fighting against the marauding forces was done not by any political group or force but by our heroes. Heroes like Ziaur Rahman, Khaled Moshraff, Taher, and people like Moni's father who fought and after the war was won, quietly left to join the life they had left to fight for their motherland.

Moni's father reminds us not only of the feelings of warmth and pride that was alive once in our hearts for our freedom fighters but also the need for an honest, non-political appraisal and formulation of a list of our valiant freedom fighters. This is what we owe to our country; our glorious history and our projonmo!!

Shahjahan Ahmed, Dhanmondi, Dhaka