After Lying Unburied for 15 Hours, Manik Poshari Is Laid to Rest in His Village Deep at Night; State Honours Given in Secret

Freedom fighter Manik Poshari (87) has finally been buried. At around 1am on Saturday night (24 October), police brought his body to his home in Chitalia village of Sankarpasha Union under Pirojpur Sadar Upazila, and his burial was completed at around 1:20am. After his death at 10am, his lifeless body had lain waiting for nearly 15 hours amid allegations of obstruction to the burial, with the body pulled into a tug-of-war throughout that time.

Manik Poshari was the plaintiff in the crimes-against-humanity case against Maulana Delawar Hossain Sayeedi, former nayeb-e-amir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and a former member of parliament. The history of that old case became the reason for fresh tension around his funeral after his death.

Manik Poshari died in Gopalganj at around 10am on Saturday. He had fled his home on 5 August 2024 and moved to Gopalganj. According to family members, he had since been staying at his son-in-law's house in Tungipara, Gopalganj, and had been suffering from physical illness for the past two months.

After his death, when his body was brought to the Pirojpur Sadar Upazila Parishad premises at around noon, the situation turned complicated. Jamaat leaders there obstructed giving him a guard of honour and burying him in Pirojpur, it has been learned. The main objection was raised over the question of giving him state honours as a freedom fighter.

Later, at around 5pm, he was given a guard of honour in secret inside the Police Lines. Police chose this course in the face of pressure from local Jamaat leaders, it is learned. But objections were then raised over the burial as well, so the body lay waiting for a long time and the question of the funeral remained unresolved well past midnight.

Pirojpur district Jamaat assistant secretary Abdur Razzak said they opposed giving a guard of honour to Manik Poshari, claiming he was a 'fake freedom fighter'. However, he denied the allegation of obstructing the burial.

On the other hand, Pirojpur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Iftekharul Islam Shamim said Manik Poshari was given a guard of honour with state honours. In other words, the administration's statement confirms his state recognition as a freedom fighter — although it had to be given inside the Police Lines, away from public view.

Manik Poshari was a resident of Ward No. 4 of Chitalia village in Sankarpasha Union of Pirojpur Sadar Upazila. In the end he was laid to rest in that very village, in the soil of his own home — but not in daylight; deep at night, nearly 15 hours after his death.

Pirojpur Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shariful Islam said Manik Poshari's burial has been completed, no untoward incident occurred, and the burial was completed peacefully. No news of any clash or violence was ultimately reported around the night-time burial.

The tussle over the body of a freedom fighter and war crimes case plaintiff has created mixed reactions among local people. On one side is the claim over a 'fake freedom fighter', on the other the state honours given by the administration — caught between these two opposing positions, a family had to wait 15 hours for their relative's funeral.

The incident has once again brought to the fore the depth of the old debate over freedom fighter recognition and the war crimes trials. The situation created around the death and burial of the plaintiff in Sayeedi's case shows how alive the wounds of that history still are in local society.

Although the burial has brought the tension to an apparent end, questions remain — why did a freedom fighter's state honours have to be given in secret, and why did the funeral have to wait until deep into the night? The conduct of the local administration and the political sides in the coming days will tell whether this debate stops here.