Mentally deranged FF going untreated in Jhenidah

JHENIDAH, Dec 20: Abdur Rajjak Molla (64), a valiant freedom fighter, and also son of late Abu Sayeed Mollah of Fatehpur Nimtal villlage under Moheshpur upzila in Jhenidah, is passing his days in life and death as he has been going untreated for long without any hearth of his own.

Many inhabitants of the area said Rajjak sometimes enchants a slogan of "Joy Bangla" and recites the historical speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7 at various intersections in the region.

Sohel Rana, a local van-puller, said he had seen Rajjak Mollah taking part in PT and parade many times alone in different gardens of Nimtala Fatehpur.

His elder brother Hamid Mollah (82) told the FE that his younger brother Rajjak had gone to India as a refugee in 1970 and taken training of FF in Bihar. He came back to Maheshpur with a rifle and a box of bullets, he added.

This undaunted FF, who once taking part in a number of fierce battles during the Liberation War in 1971, snatched the freedom of Bangladesh from the Pakistani raider forces, is now in a pitiable condition with none to take care of him at this old age.

He has got nothing more than the government FF allowance in his life and now he is badly in need of treatment and an abode of his own, locals observed.

This patriot is still haunted by the gruesome memory of the cruel killing of his fellow-fighters by the murderous army of West Pakistan. He has been rendered mentally devastated.

Sources said the war of independence being over, Rajjak joined the Ansar force but after one year, he went mentally disarrayed and returned home. His wife forsook him and since then he has been dragging his bankrupt life until now.

He is now living with his nephew Haidar Mollah at his house.

According to Maheshpur upazila Freedom Fighters' Commander Abdul Malek Gazi, Abdur Rajjak made an outstanding contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

Local people want that self-sacrificing Abdur Rajjak be given immediate treatment to cure him of his mental ailment with a view to bringing him back to normal life under the patronisation the government.

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