Freedom fighter Manik Poshari, plaintiff in Sayeedi case, allegedly blocked from burial in Pirojpur; guard of honour held in secret
Local Jamaat leaders and activists have been accused of obstructing the burial of Bir Muktijoddha Manik Poshari in Pirojpur. He died at around 10am on Saturday (October 24) at his daughter's home in Tungipara, Gopalganj. His body was then taken to Pirojpur for a guard of honour and burial.
Police, family and local sources said Manik Poshari was the plaintiff in a crimes-against-humanity case against Maulana Delawar Hossain Sayeedi, former MP for Pirojpur-1 and a Jamaat leader.
Manik Poshari was 87. He was a resident of Ward 4 of Chitalia village in Shankarpasha Union of Pirojpur Sadar Upazila and a gazetted freedom fighter.
Family and administration sources said that when his body was brought to the Pirojpur Sadar Upazila Parishad premises at noon on Saturday, local Jamaat leaders obstructed the guard of honour and his burial in Pirojpur.
After waiting for about four hours, the administration gave him a guard of honour in secret inside the Police Lines at around 5pm and handed the body to the family. But fearing for their safety, the family was still staying with the body at the district Police Lines at last report — uncertainty remained over where and how the burial would take place.
The family said Manik Poshari had been in hiding since after August 5, 2024, taking shelter at his daughter's in-laws' home in the Tungipara area of Gopalganj. He had been physically ill for the past two months.
After he died there at 10am on Saturday, the body was brought at around noon to the Pirojpur Sadar Upazila Parishad area for the guard of honour, where the family faced obstruction from local Jamaat leaders.
His son-in-law Faruk Hossain said he died at 10am, and when they came to the Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) at 12pm, the UNO kept them waiting until 5pm while speaking of the guard of honour.
Faruk Hossain added that his father-in-law was a gazetted freedom fighter. After the body was kept for four to five hours in an ordinary ambulance without ice, a guard of honour was somehow given in secret and the body handed over. But the UNO took no responsibility for how they would bury the body, leaving the family deeply worried about the burial.
Asked for a reaction, Pirojpur district Jamaat assistant secretary Abdur Razzak said Manik Poshari was a 'fake freedom fighter', that he would not be allowed a guard of honour in any way, and that his body would not be allowed to be buried in Pirojpur's soil.
Pirojpur Sadar Police Station officer-in-charge Shariful Islam said a guard of honour had been given to Manik Poshari and that further legal steps in the matter were under process.
Pirojpur Sadar Upazila election officer Md Iftekharul Islam Shamim said the guard of honour was given to Manik Poshari's body with state honours.
The standoff over the final farewell of a gazetted freedom fighter has sparked intense discussion in Pirojpur. The family's biggest question now is where and how the burial will finally be completed amid fears for their safety.
