‘We feel ashamed’: Freedom fighter laid to rest without state honours in Cumilla

A 78-year-old freedom fighter was buried without a guard of honour in Cumilla on Thursday (5 November), prompting anger and disappointment among his family members and fellow freedom fighters, who said he was denied the state recognition he deserved.

Abdus Sattar died at his son’s residence in Dhaka earlier that day. After his first namaz-e-janaza in the capital, his body was brought to his ancestral village of Mahalakshipara under Sadar Union of Brahmanpara upazila, arriving after 5:30pm.

Family members, fellow freedom fighters and local residents had gathered to receive his body and bid him a final farewell with state honours. However, no representative of the upazila administration arrived to coordinate the guard of honour. Sattar was subsequently buried without the ceremonial tribute.

His brother, Shahjahan, expressed deep anguish over the failure to arrange the state farewell.

“We wanted to bid my brother a final farewell with the honour he deserved. But that did not happen. We feel ashamed today that a man who fought for nine months with a weapon in his hands to liberate this country did not receive even the honour he was entitled to,” he said.

Fellow freedom fighter Abdus Sattar Molla, also a resident of Mahalakshipara, said the absence of an administrative representative was particularly painful.

“It is painful. Even if a guard of honour could not be given after evening, someone from the administration could at least have come to pay their last respects. But even that did not happen. As a freedom fighter, it is unbearable to see a fellow freedom fighter treated with such disrespect,” he said.

Police, administration offer different explanations

Brahmanpara upazila freedom fighters’ commander Idris Mia Master said they had maintained communication with the administration and repeatedly requested that a guard of honour and an armed salute be arranged for Sattar.

Shahjahan, the deceased’s brother, said Brahmanpara Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Munni Islam had informed them that a guard of honour could not be provided in the evening.

Brahmanpara Police Station Officer-in-Charge Faruk Hossain, however, said police had made arrangements for the ceremonial tribute but could not proceed because no representative of the upazila administration was present.

“We sent a full pickup of police personnel for the guard of honour, and a team from the police lines also came to play the bugle. However, as no one from the upazila administration was present, the police could not give the guard of honour on their own. We did, however, attend the funeral prayer,” he said.

Contacted for comment, UNO Munni Islam said the administration had made preparations but could not confirm when the body would arrive from Dhaka.

“A guard of honour is not given after evening. Even so, we had made preparations, but there was uncertainty over bringing the body from Dhaka. No one contacted me after Maghrib, so it was not possible to arrange it,” she said.