Name all 30 lakh war martyrs: Gayeshwar to govt

BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy demanded that the government publish the names of all 30 lakh people martyred in the 1971 Liberation War.

“It is not a big question that who says what about the number (of the martyrs). Publish the names of all the 30 lakh martyrs through newspapers and then file cases against Khaleda Zia as many as you wish to,” said Gayeshwar, a standing committee member of BNP.

“Thirty lakh or 60 lakh, whatever it is, we have responsibility to them. Why is there no list of them?” he said calling for constructing monuments in every area for the martyrs by mentioning their names like the ones built for the martyred freedom fighters.

Gayeshwar was speaking at a programme at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka on the occasion of the first death anniversary of BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s younger Son Arafat Rahman Koko.

Speaking at a discussion in Dhaka’s Jatiya Press Club earlier on December 25, the BNP leader described the 1971 martyred intellectuals as "anti-liberation elements" who "died like fools" and drew salaries and allowances from Pakistan till the end of the war.

“And foolish people like ourselves go to place wreaths [on their graves] every year … [And] not doing so would be tantamount to sin,” Goyeshwar said sarcastically.