As Bangladesh observed Victory Day, marking the glorious triumph over Pakistani occupation forces in 1971, the nation’s sacred Liberation War monuments and memorials stand vandalized, neglected, and unrepaired more than a year after the August 2024 upheaval—a damning indictment of the Muhammad Yunus-led, Jamaat-e-Islami-backed interim government’s deliberate erasure of the country’s pro-liberation heritage and its ongoing “Pakistanization” of institutions.
A scathing Prothom Alo investigation reveals that iconic sites like the historic Mujibnagar Memorial Complex—where Bangladesh’s provisional government took oath on April 17, 1971—remain in shambles, with hundreds of sculptures decapitated, shattered, or unrecognisable.
The complex, featuring depictions of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic March 7 speech, armed resistance, refugee suffering, and a guard of honour to national leaders, was brutally attacked on August 5, 2024, with over 400 sculptures damaged in waves of vandalism. Littered with plastic bottles and debris, the site evokes shame rather than pride, as veteran Ansar guard Mohammad Azimuddin Sheikh lamented: “An attack on Mujibnagar is an attack on independence itself.”
Similarly, Gazipur’s “Armed Resistance” sculpture—commemorating the nation’s first armed standoff against Pakistani forces—lies broken, its nine 13-foot figures reduced to knee-level stumps, hidden behind political banners and garbage heaps. Built at a cost of Tk1.77 crore, it was demolished before inauguration on August 5, 2024. Sculptor Kuyasha Bindu, devastated, said: “Years of labour destroyed in moments—I still cannot recover.”
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In Madaripur, sites like “Probahoman 71,” “Muktibangla,” and under-construction museums remain shattered, with no administrative initiative for repair despite demands from local freedom fighters.
The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs admits damage reports from 35 districts for freedom fighter complexes and 33 other sites, including museums, memorials, and killing fields, yet claims insufficient funds and awaits Finance Ministry allocation—excuses that ring hollow amid the regime’s lavish reforms elsewhere.
No full damage assessment exists for the estimated 1,494 sculptures, murals, and monuments vandalised nationwide between August 5 and 14, 2024, mostly depicting Bangabandhu and war themes.
Shockingly, no cases have been filed against vandals, with Liberation War Affairs Advisor Faruk-e-Azam admitting the “environment” was unsuitable then and “too late” now—a blatant protection of perpetrators aligned with anti-liberation forces.
This willful neglect coincides with Victory Day programs dominated by anti-liberation entities like Jamaat-e-Islami, Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party), and National Citizens Party (NCP), while pro-Awami League voices hide from arrest. Jamaat, historical collaborators with Pakistani forces in the 1971 atrocities, organised rallies and discussions, brazenly claiming the 2024 “uprising” fulfils the Liberation War spirit.
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The Yunus-Jamaat clique has further insulted 1971 heroes by redefining “freedom fighter” via ordinance, introducing “Associate Freedom Fighter” category that downgrades key figures, dilutes armed combatants’ status, and excludes groups like Mujib Bahini—a calculated move to rewrite history and appease razakar sympathisers.
This desecration is no accident but part of systematic Pakistanization: lifting Jamaat’s ban, warming ties with Islamabad through high-level visits and defense pacts, purging secular elements from judiciary, army, police, administration, and education, while minorities suffer escalating attacks reminiscent of 1971 genocide.
The treacherous Yunus regime, propped up by Jamaat radicals, betrays Bangladesh’s founding martyrs by abandoning their monuments to ruin, empowering 1971 traitors, and eroding the secular, pro-liberation ethos bought with three million lives. On this Victory Day, the nation mourns not just past sacrifices but the ongoing assault on its soul, demanding immediate restoration, justice for vandals, and reversal of this shameful capitulation to anti-independence forces.
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