Interim government’s Liberation War Affairs Adviser Farooq-e-Azam, Bir Pratik today (Wednesday, December 11) asked fake freedom fighters who received certificates as 1971 veterans to return the credentials voluntarily to evade punitive actions.

“The fake freedom fighters will be granted a general amnesty if they return the certificates voluntarily. Otherwise, they will be exposed to punitive actions,” he said at a press briefing at his ministry conference room.

The adviser said his ministry had already taken a step to verify the number of real freedom fighters, initially those who were appointed to government jobs under the freedom fighters’ quota.

He said works were underway to identify fake freedom fighters and in introduced a form in the ministry’s website to receive information or complaints.

Azam a process was also initiated to collect information from all ministries to prepare a complete list of those appointed under the freedom fighters’ quota.

The adviser said 89,235 people were currently engaged in government jobs under the Freedom Fighters quota.

He said a court case procedure was now pending regarding the cancellation of certificates of 2,111 freedom fighters aged 12 years and 6 months.

“When this matter will be decided by the court, we will cancel their certificates. We will also take steps to punish them,” Azam said.

He said that once the verification process was completed, it would deter fraud in the name of the Liberation War.