"Obviously no museum in the world can display its entire collection but we are not even in a position to showcase the items we want to," said one of the officials of the museum which has been running on a rented property for the past eight years.

The museum has collected 10,730 Liberation War related items until May 2004. These include rare photographs, documents, media reports and material used by freedom fighters and martyrs of the war. In 1999, it took the human remnants of the 1971 genocide after excavating the Muslimbazar and Jalladkhana killing fields with assistance from Bangladesh Army.

However, at the moment the museum can only exhibit around 1300 objects due to paucity of space.

"Rest of the items are kept in the documentation cell of the museum. This is hampering an all-round display of local and international perspective on the war of independence," said one of the officials of the museum.

There are six galleries in the museum. The first one presents the rich heritage of Bengal, colonial rule and the uprisings against foreign domination and communal tension culminating in creation of Pakistan.

The second gallery displays the era under Pakistani rule from 1947 to 1971. It pictures the struggle of the people of East Pakistan to establish a secular democracy and victory of nationalist forces in the general election of 1970.

Denial of the popular verdict by the Pakistani rulers, non-violent non-cooperation movement, genocide by the military, refugee camps and establishment of the provisional government by elected representatives are featured in the third gallery.

The last three galleries concentrate on the armed struggle led by sector commanders, items used by martyrs and freedom fighters, international support by governments, public leaders and the media. Roles of collaborators of the Pakistani regime, killing of intellectuals, the final thrust by the allied forces and victory on December 16, 1971 are vividly depicted here.

Museum authorities said that people all over the country have been sending items for displaying at the Liberation War Museum.

"At least three items are received in a week," said Dr. Sarwar Ali, the trustee and member secretary of the museum.

"Mostly these are objects used by Liberation War martyrs or freedom fighters which have been treasured by their families for long. These items have emotional ties and family members are upset when we cannot put them on display for lack of space," said Dr. Ali adding that they have decided to exhibit such things in rotation as a compromise.

To deal with problem, the museum's authority now plans to purchase a piece of land in Dhaka for constructing a proper museum.

"We need an area of at least one third of an acre," said Dr. Ali.

He informed that the museum had successfully conducted the government approved national lottery from January to March 2003 and kept the money earned for purchasing the land. However, he added that the fund would partially meet the desired land's price. The rest has to be raised from local and foreign donations.

The museum has been receiving a token grant from the national budget since 1999.

"We have been lucky that no subsequent government has cancelled the allocation," said the secretary adding that this year the museum received a grant of Tk 28 lakh.

But that amount alone is not sufficient to run the museum and conduct its different programmes.

"We have to depend on the contribution from different sponsor members, chartered members and annual members to manage the rest," said Dr Ali.