“Without knowledge of the past we would be
without identity, we would be lost on an endless sea of time.” Arthur
Marwick
AN APPEAL:
HELP US PRESERVE THE HISTORY OF THE WAR OF LIBERATION OF
BANGLADESH
A PROJECT OF THE LIBERATION WAR MUSEUM, BANGLASESH AND
THE NORTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR SOUTH ASIA STUDIES,
USA
As many of you may know, the documents relating to the liberation war of
Bangladesh have been rapidly
disappearing from the libraries across Bangladesh. One may find it very
appalling to know that major libraries in Bangladesh, including the Central Public Library,
Dhaka University Library and Bangla Academy Library currently hold very few
documents concerning the war and atrocities occurred in Bangladesh in
1971. Many of these historical documents are either destroyed because of lack of
proper preservation or missing for reasons yet to be known. Against this
backdrop, beginning summer of 2005, the Liberation War Museum (LWM),
Bangladesh (http://www.liberationmuseum.org.bd) and the North Carolina
Center for South Asia Studies (NCCSAS),
USA, have embarked on a
project with a goal to preserve the historical documents of the war of
liberation of Bangladesh. Please visit the link
http://www.jhfc.duke.edu/csas/index.php to know more about the North Carolina Center of
South Asia. This project shall give us
opportunity to promote our heritage and educate our current and future
generation about the hard-earned freedom of Bangladesh. We
need your support in preserving these documents.
Please read the synopsis of the project and provide us your support as
outlined in the last section.
Why is this project so important?
As the quotation by
Professor Arthur Marwick indicates and as Woodrow Wilson states that “A nation which does not know what it was
yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to
do,” we must preserve and
protect the history of our past. Archiving the war of liberation documents will
ensure that the current as well as the future generations receive an accurate
account of what happened in 1971 in Bangladesh.
The main goals of this project
are:
·
to preserve the
historical documents relating to the liberation war of Bangladesh.
·
to utilize the archived
documents in research related to south Asia and
genocidal studies.
·
to incorporate the
documents in the south Asia courses taught in four consortium institutions,
namely, Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University and NC Central
University.
·
to ensure that the
documents are available in the public domain.
The projects implementation
stages
·
In the first stage, the
late S. A Jalal collection of more than 3500 newspaper clippings published in
various foreign newspapers during March through December of 1971 will be
digitized.
·
Concurrently, the
search for the missing documents will continue.
·
In the subsequent
stages, documents in Bangla news papers and magazines published, movies
produced, minutes of meeting and any other related documents produced, published
and/or written during the war of liberation in 1971 will also be
digitized.
·
All digitized
documents will be archived, depending on the space availability, at the
libraries of Duke University, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central University. Digitized materials will be
available through various search engines for the readers for inter-library
loans, hopefully, during the fall (third week of August) of 2006.
Current source of funding
The NC Center for South Asia studies
have provided the initial funding for this project. With this startup fund, the
Liberation
War Museum has set up a computer system with
necessary digitized equipments. The Center has also approved additional funding
for the continuation of the project.
The duration of the
project
The duration of the project depends on the availability of archiving
space, future funding and generous support from the public.
How can you
contribute?
As stated in the first paragraph, a large volume of historical documents
is currently out of the public domain. Some are destroyed and many are in the
hands of public who may have been keeping them for safe preservation. One of the
major objectives of this project is to locate these missing documents published,
produced or/and written during the war of 1971. To accomplish this objective, we
need your kind and invaluable support.
We, therefore, earnestly request you that, if you are currently holding
or if you know anyone (any place) or/and who (which) may be holding pamphlets,
magazines, newspaper clippings, minutes of meeting (those of the Freedom
fighters, the paramilitary forces like Rajakar, Al-badr, Al shams, Shanti
Committee), photographs, movies, books, tapes, personal diaries produced,
published, written during the war time, please contact or send copy(es) to Mr.
Mofidul Haque, Trustee, Liberation War Museum or to ABM Nasir at the NC Center
for South Asia Studies at the addresses below.
We will recognize your contribution and efforts. By sharing such
documents with historical significance concerning our liberation war will
greatly help these libraries and Liberation War Museum disseminate them to larger
readership.
Let us work together in preserving our past.
Earnestly,
ABM Nasir
|
Mofidul
Houqe
Trustee, Liberation
War Museum
5 Segun
Bagicha
Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh
Ph :
88-02-9559091
Fax :
88-02-9559092
e-mail :
mukti@citechco.net
|
ABM Nasir, Ph.D
Campus Director
North
Carolina Center
for South Asia Studies
|