Razakar controversy: Who is correct?

A day after controversy began over the inclusion of some names of freedom fighters in the recently published list of the Razakars, the Liberation War Affairs minister and Home minister have come up with two different explanations.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque apologised for publishing freedom fighters' names in the Razakars' list. However, he defended himself saying, "The home ministry provided the list and we just published it."

"We released the Razakars' list as it was received from the home ministry. The home ministry made the list from the then government records documented during the Liberation War, they did not create a new one," he said.

But hours after the claim of Mozammel Haque, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said his ministry had sent a note on corrections to the list but the Liberation War Affairs Ministry did not follow it.

"The Liberation War Affairs Ministry didn't scrutinise the list before publishing it… it should have been scrutinised," Asaduzzaman Khan said today.

Apparently, no one is taking the blame for the "mistake" that saddened the freedom fighters who risked their lives for the independence of the country. 

Meanwhile, a Freedom fighter named Tapan Kumar Chakraborty, whose father also fought for the country during the Liberation War, found his name in the Razakars' list.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard about it. I found no meaning of staying alive after my name's included in the list," Tapan Kumar told media at a press briefing today.

To the utter surprise, the name of Ghulam Arif Tipu, who is the counsel of the International Crimes Tribunal that has been trying the war criminals for their crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, was also found in the Razakars' list.

"I hope the Liberation War Affairs Ministry will rectify the list before publishing a gazette notification," he said at a press briefing expressing resentment over inclusion of his name.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs Sunday published a list of 10,789 Razakars who collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces during the War of Liberation in 1971. But the list drew huge criticisms as the names of freedom fighters are there in it.