Dear Editor, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No excuses for missing 1971 documents Ripan Kumar Biswas "Without knowledge of the past we would be without identity, we would be lost on an endless sea of time," Arthur John Brereton Marwick (February 29, 1936-September 26, 2006), a left-wing social and cultural historian and a critic of postmodernism, always argued for the necessity of history. And if the history is relevant to the country's "Proclamation of Independence" or formation of its first government, the necessity of knowledge of the past is much more essential as these past histories are especially important to many in that they are held to be a document that states the freedom that people have in the country and the freedom that the people have from other countries. In an unfortunate development, according to a Dhaka based national English daily newspaper on Wednesday, June 18, 2008, the original copies of the Bangladesh's Proclamation of independence, formation of the first government, and the laws' continuance enforcement order of 1971 are missing from government custody. The documents relating to the liberation war of Bangladesh are not a sudden output of history. These are the outcome of or the important stage of the country's continuous 23 year's of historic struggle for national liberation starting from the language movements (1948-52) through various movements and struggle till 1971. The missing important artifacts' have been noticed while the caretaker government handed over three volumes of original historic documents of appointments and oaths of the presidents, vice-presidents, and the prime ministers of Bangladesh, and of the proceedings of cabinet meetings during the period between 1971 and 1982 to the National Archives for permanent preservation on April 2, 2008. Among them, the original hand written draft of the Proclamation of Independence that worked as the provisional constitution of Bangladesh through the liberation war was not found or given. However, the cabinet division confirmed that they had the photocopies of those, which they handed over to the National Archives. But according to the many officials of the then Mujibnagar government, the first ever interim government of Bangladesh, there would be a conspiracy behind the disappearance of the original documents of the formation of Bangladesh's government-in-exile that established the government as a successor to the East Pakistan regime. Including them, the general people are also in doubt whether the documents have been lost, removed, or destroyed with ill motives' to conceal the role of those who collaborated with the erstwhile East Pakistan government as now the country is demanding the trial of war criminals. It is sad to know that the successive governments, aware of the missing documents, but have done nothing to recover them. The history of Bangladesh has been one of extremes, of turmoil and peace, prosperity and destitution. It has thrived under the glow of cultural spiendour and suffered under the ravages of war.
Bangladesh became one of the youngest major nation states following a pair of twentieth century secessions from India (1947) and Pakistan (1971). It became independent and sovereign after a clarion call for liberation struggle was made following the brutal crackdown of the Pakistani Armed Forces at midnight of 25th March, 1971 on the innocent people of what was then East Pakistan. The struggle for liberation continued for about nine months till the Pakistani occupation forces surrendered on 16th of December.
To get the recognition as a distinct nation during the nine months glorious journey, three million people were massacred by the Pakistani military and local collaborators. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped. Village after village, town after town, were burned to the ground. There were dead bodies lying in everywhere, and floating in every river. There was hardly any family who did not lose something in the war. The vital moment during the nine month history was the Proclamation of Independence, which was incorporated by the elected representatives of Bangladesh in their Proclamation of Independence on 10th April, 1971. For the first time, government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was sworn in on April 17, 1971, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as its President. Major Ziaur Rahman was appointed a Sector Commander under the said government and later on a Brigade Commander. This Proclamation of Independence has become part of the constitution of Bangladesh (Paragraph 3 (1) of the Fourth Schedule). Anything done in contravention of any provision of the constitution is illegal and void. The Proclamation of Independence refers to values that cannot be changed by any kind of circumstance. They are general ideas that cannot be controlled by any group. It refers to the freedom in which people will not be governed by an individual person, a group or a particular religion. This means that the freedoms that people have are generally an inheritance from their creators as if it were a legacy from God. They do not have to be forced onto anyone, meaning that people can follow the ideas that they want. This is something that the government will not infringe upon. From the very moment of its creation, the Proclamation of Independence has been a document potent in symbolic, historical, and political value. People have tried to physically protect it, even when they did not fully understand how to do so. But after thirty seven years of its creation, the news those historical documents have gone missing from government custody, has left everyone dumbfounded. The ancient history of Bangladesh is fragmentary in nature mainly due to a lack of records and adequate research. The documents relating to the liberation war of Bangladesh have been rapidly disappearing from the libraries across Bangladesh. People may find it very appalling to know that National Archives and the National Library, the two most important national institutions of the country devoted to the cultivation of knowledge and preservation of the country's cultural heritage, are now holding very few documents concerning the war and atrocities occurred in Bangladesh in 1971. Many of these historical documents are either destroyed because of lack of proper preservation or missing for reasons yet to be known. According to Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth President of the United States, a nation which does not know what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. The speakers, along with Dhaka University Vice-chancellor SMA Faiz as chief guest and National Professor Dr Sufia Ahmed, who were present at the two-day seminar on June 13, 2008, organized by Bangladesh Itihas Parishad at the auditorium of the Teacher Student Centre of Dhaka University where seven research articles on the liberation war were presented, said that the history of liberation should be secured and gathered properly for the new generation for greater interest of nation. Bangladeshis live in freedom because of the enduring power of the ideals, which they got from the Proclamation of Independence. Understanding the sentiment and value of it, the respective authority should put their vigorous effort immediately to recover the missing documents and investigate how they have been stolen or destroyed by those who wanted to cut Bangladesh off from the history. June 20, 2008, New York, USA Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York |
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