Feature

Students Unite for a Noble Cause

Marina Husain

OUR Liberation War, the fight for our language, the fight for a new nation, the fight for freedom are great events we will always embrace in our hearts. It's been 37 years since we have achieved our independence and yet, being part of the young generation, how much have we understood of 1971 is still a question. Our knowledge about the Muktijuddho is basically from photos and video footages from back then, and sometimes maybe, we realize its depth of emotions from the stories we hear. There is no doubt that even if we haven't seen the war or gone through the sufferings, we are proud of how our nation was born and more significantly of those sons of the soil who had fought bravley against the enemy.

However, little do we know about the brave warriors who have made our independence possible. Yet, we tried to focus, after 37 years to look back and find out about these heroes and their living. What we found left us with a feeling of shame and distress.

Our initial places of interest were the settlement colonies setup by the government for Freedom Fighters. We visited 'Mukti Jodha Chhauni' in Mohakhali, where we were able to get a better idea of the living conditions of the freedom fighters in Dhaka. We interviewed many freedom fighters and their families. The families mainly live in one-room tin shacks and the paltry sum given to these families is not sufficient enough to run a family. Hence, many of the children have to give up hopes of education and start working at a very young age.

We also visited the freedom fighters settled at Gopalpur in Tangail. Here, many of them have to rely on agriculture and farming. In many cases they have to share their living quarters with not only other family members but also with their domesticated animals! Shortage of living quarters forces these humble people to keep their livestock indoors due to security reasons. Some of these fighters had been seriously injured during the war. They therefore require extensive amounts of medicine each day. The cost of medicine sometimes forces them to borrow heavily.

The funding provided by the government to the freedom fighters is not enough to feed one person, let alone one complete family. If the war in 1971 has ended for us 37 years ago, for these freedom fighters the war still prevails, but this time not for a free nation but for their existence.

'71 Ajonmo Prottashsha thus stands out to help these heroes. It's an organization currently consisting of 25 members and our goal is to visit various locations of Bangladesh, find the helpless freedom fighters and help to rehabilitate them. '71 Ajonmo Prottashsha launched its first official program on 26th March this year from the very village of Gopalur in Tangail. While on our visit to Gopalpur we talked, heard and saw how the freedom fighters lived on a daily basis. We chose 7 of them who needed help to improve their living conditions. '71 Ajonmo Prottashsha collected an in-house fund to rehabilitate these heroes on the basis of their needs. For example, Abdul Hamid Kanu was badly in need of medical attention. He still suffered from the torture that he received in '71. He was brought to Dhaka for proper medical treatment.

As students we believe we hold a certain amount of responsibility and debt towards the greatest heroes of our land. We also believe that by taking such steps we will be able to bring back a substantial amount of forgotten history to our people. This will help the next generations to have complete knowledge of our war for independence. Therefore,'71 Ajonmo Prottasha welcomes people from all walks of life to take part in this noble step so that it can bring about a revolution in our society, a revolution that will be carried forward by generations who have yet to arrive, a revolution that will keep the '71 spirit up.