# Freedom fighter Abdus Sattar buried in Cumilla without state honour

- Link: https://globalvoicebd.com/politics/freedom-fighter-abdus-sattar-buried-in-cumilla-without-state-honour/
- Published: 2026-11-06T09:42:13-05:00
- Author: GV Newsroom

Criticism has erupted in Cumilla after 78-year-old freedom fighter Abdus Sattar 
was buried without state honour on Thursday (5 November).

The incident has drawn sharp local outrage and is being viewed by many as another
example of the diminished practical recognition accorded to Liberation War veterans
since the fall of the Awami League government in August 2024.

Abdus Sattar, who fought for nine months in the 1971 war and later served in the
communications and law ministries, died earlier the same day at his son’s house 
in Dhaka. After the first janaza there, his body was taken to the family home in
Mahalakshmipara village of Sadar Union, Brahmanpara upazila. It arrived past 5:30
pm. Family members and locals waited for the upazila administration to accord him
a final farewell with state dignity, including a guard of honour. No representative
of the administration appeared. He was ultimately buried without state honour.

His brother Shahjahan said: “We wanted to bid my brother a final farewell by giving
him the last bit of honour. But that did not happen. The man who fought for nine
months with arms in hand to make the country independent did not even receive the
honour due to him after death. This is extremely painful and shameful for us.”

Local freedom fighter Abdus Sattar Molla called the episode “extremely painful,”
noting that even if a full guard of honour was not possible after evening, administrative
officials could at least have come to pay their respects. Brahmanpara upazila Freedom
Fighter Commander Idris Mia Master said they had stayed in constant contact with
the administration, but Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Munni Islam told them a guard
of honour cannot be given after evening. Union Parishad Chairman Zahirul Haque, 
who attended the janaza, said the failure has triggered intense criticism across
the area.

Police Officer-in-Charge Md Faruk Hossain stated that officers had been dispatched
with the necessary equipment for a guard of honour, but could not proceed because
no one from the upazila administration was present. Police personnel did attend 
the janaza.

The burial has become a flashpoint in a wider pattern of institutional and narrative
shifts affecting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and freedom fighters since August
2024. Under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government (August 2024–February 2026),
a June 2025 ordinance amended the National Freedom Fighters Council law. It narrowed
the definition of “valiant freedom fighter” around active combat or training between
26 March and 16 December 1971, introduced separate categories for “associates of
the Liberation War,” and removed multiple references to “Father of the Nation Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.” Many reports interpreted the changes as stripping or downgrading
the formal status of Bangabandhu, key Mujibnagar leaders, and hundreds of others
previously recognised as freedom fighters. The Yunus administration denied full 
revocation, insisting Mujibnagar government members remained freedom fighters and
that associates retained equivalent honours and benefits, while critics described
the move as eroding the centrality of Bangabandhu’s leadership and rewriting aspects
of the 1971 narrative. Reports of attacks on some freedom fighters and vandalism
of Liberation War memorials also circulated in the months after the uprising.

After the February 2026 elections, the BNP under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman took
power. While the party’s manifesto pledged accurate lists of genuine Liberation 
War martyrs, state honour for freedom fighters, inflation-adjusted allowances, and
accurate historical accounts in education, local administrative lapses such as the
Cumilla burial continue to fuel perceptions of reduced practical respect. Political
debates with Jamaat-e-Islami (now the main opposition) over 1971 roles persist, 
and some voices within the current political landscape have argued against equating
freedom-fighter benefits with those for July 2024 uprising participants.

In Brahmanpara, the failure to provide even a basic official presence at Abdus Sattar’s
burial has left family members and fellow freedom fighters describing the episode
as a source of deep pain and shame—reinforcing concerns that the post-August 2024
governments have not consistently upheld the traditional state recognition long 
associated with the country’s Liberation War veterans.