Editorial
Fraud in the name of history
Tainted sub-registrar appointment needs to be reviewed
Our collective embarrassment cannot possibly get any deeper. The scandal surrounding the appointment of 190 sub-registrars last year reminds us once again of how corruption has systematically been eating away at the vitals of the country. All 190 applicants eventually appointed as sub-registrars, on the ground that they had been freedom fighters in 1971 and had played active roles in the Mujibnagar government, have now shamed us in a manner we could never have imagined. Observe the facts. Altogether 107 of them were below the age of 10 years in 1971 (one was only three!). The others were in their early teens, the oldest among them being 18 during the War of Liberation. The mind-boggling aspect of the situation here is that no one in the administration bothered to go into a bit of mathematics before appointing these individuals, on the basis of forged documents and bribes, to these posts. It has been nearly 40 years since Bangladesh became a free country. Those who took part in the war should logically be in their early 60s, at least, at this stage. Now, did it not occur to the authorities that the physical attributes of these 190 people did not quite match the realities of a war waged and won four decades ago?
The question now before us is a disturbing one: what can the nation expect of people who have taken recourse to such lies to be appointed to responsible positions? We are all aware of the hue and cry raised in the early 1970s over the false freedom fighter certificates that individuals who had absolutely no link with the War of Liberation came by. We also recall that in this country there are yet thousands of genuine freedom fighters who have led simple, often painful lives owing to a lack of any meaningful steps by successive governments to ensure better conditions for them and their families. Against this background, this blatant and false exploitation of the struggle for freedom comes as a new blot on our collective conscience.
Of course, these 190 men and women could not have committed this misdeed without the support and cooperation of dishonest government officials and employees in such departments as the establishment and law ministries. These dishonest elements, seduced by thoughts of questionable financial gains (bribes to the extent of Tk. 25 lakh have been paid them, as we understand), will stoop at nothing to serve their own ends. We recommend that a thorough and immediate inquiry be made of all those involved in the recruitment of these 190 sub-registrars, followed by a due and strict application of the law vis-à-vis the fraud they have perpetrated on the nation. As for the so-called freedom fighter sub-registrars, obviously they have to be removed from their positions and prosecuted for their criminality along with those who abetted in it. Let that job be done and let the country be kept posted on how the government deals with the issue.
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