Recognise the families of the martyrs

As this daily has reported on December 12, the families of 600 martyrs in Lalmonirhat town are yet to get recognition from the government. That we are getting to know this fact 47 years after independence is tragic. On April 5, 1971, around 600 Bangalees, including 84 railway officials and employees, school and college teachers, businessmen and cultural activists were brutally killed by the Pakistan army and their collaborators at the rickshaw stand beside Lalmonirhat Railway Station.

Their families are still living with the horrifying memories of the massacre. But it hurts them more as their dear ones' sacrifices have still not been recognised. Many of these families have been passing their days in poverty without even a proper place to live. They have been living in the abandoned houses inside the railway quarters.

This government has always been very proactive in looking after the interests of the families of the freedom fighters and martyrs. It has taken various initiatives under which the war-wounded and martyred freedom fighters' families get regular allowances and other facilities including housing. Therefore, they should recognise these families of martyrs in Lalmonirhat as well and provide them with the state facilities they are entitled to. The families of those who made the highest form of sacrifice for the liberation of this country must not be neglected.

Moreover, as the government has taken various initiatives for preserving the history of our Liberation War, it must make efforts to preserve the killing ground in Lalmonirhat as a historical site without delay.