Two '71 martyred officials recognised as war veterans afresh

GOPALGANJ, July 06 (BSS): It was 9 in the morning on May 19 of 1971,when the Pakistani occupation troops, guided by their Bengali speaking cohorts, approached a local government office at the Pikerdanga union on the outskirts of this tiny southwestern town.

Their target was visibly specific- two junior revenue department officials.

They dragged the local land officers 'tahshildar' and the 'assistant tahshildar' away from their office, ruthlessly tortured them to an extent that they suffer extreme pain and subsequently shot them dead.

The fact that exposed tahshildar Abu Motaleb Miah and assistant tahshildar Mir Abul Quashem to their fate was - they put in their all out efforts to mobilize the people in the neighborhood for the liberation of Bangladesh after the March 25 black night crackdown by Pakistani army.

Forty-eight years after their martyrdom, the grave of these two patriots were rediscovered to officially honor them through installing plaques, acknowledging their supreme sacrifice for the country.

"Two of our colleagues' had embraced martyrdom for the country forty eight years ago while performing their duties as government officials . . . today we took measures for conserving their graves coming to know that they are laid to their eternal rest here," Gopalganj's deputy commissioner Mokhlesur Rahman Sarkar said unveiling the plaques on June 21.