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Seeking due recognition of a sector commander

July 22, 2007 00:00:00


WE are the two daughters of Shaheed Major Najmul Haque, who was the Commander of Sector 7 of the liberation forces until his death on September 26, 1971. As the commander of the then EPR, Naogaon, he was the pioneer in joining and organising the liberation forces in the area after the crackdown on March 25, 1971. The people, particularly of Naogaon and Chapai Nababganj area, still remember fondly his heroic role during the liberation war. He is now lying in his eternal rest side by side with his second-in-command and comrade-in-arms Shaheed Capt. Mohiuddin Jahangir at Sona Mosque compound in Chapai Nababganj.
After the liberation of the country, we returned to Bangladesh as orphans between the ages of one to two years as infants. By the grace of the Almighty Allah we survived and grew up in the absence of any material assistance from the then government. We were never given any kind of material benefit from any government source and we thought our father fought as a freedom fighter not for any material benefit and, therefore, seeking of any return against his noble service to the nation was never in our minds at all. To honour him, a recommendation from the appropriate authority was made in 2005 to confer upon him with the posthumous Independence Day Award for his contribution to the war of liberation.
However, recently a few streets of Dhaka City were named after the sector commanders and we were encouraged by this noble effort for recognising the contributions of the illustrious sons of the soil by the grateful nation. But to our utter disappointment and dismay we observed that, the name of our father Shaheed Major Najmul Haque, the initial commander of Sector 7 was mysteriously omitted from the list for unknown reasons . Although severely upset, sensing deliberate irregularities involved in the whole selection process, we decided to stay away from the controversy at that time with the hope that the truth would prevail one day and our father would be given his due recognition by the grateful nation in due course.
However, under the present changed circumstances we would now like to raise the issue to the care-taker administration, the C-in-C and the Mayor of the Dhaka City Corporation DCC again and would earnestly request them to kindly review the issue and name one of the streets of Dhaka City after the name of our illustrious father in recognition of his service during the liberation war like other sector commanders which will be a great consolation for us.
He rose to the occasion at the call of duty to serve the motherland, setting aside the family affection and sacrificed his life for the country. We never tested what fatherly affection was like and therefore, any state recognition would perhaps mitigate our deprivation in this respect to a great extent.

Ms Ishrat Jahan (Shuravi) and
Ms Naoreen Sabah (Shiuli)
"Oriental Orchard". Apptt.No.B/5,
House No.21, Road No.126, Gulshan-1

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