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Ministry of Liberation War Affairs

ministry · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Ahmed Azam Khan
Role
Minister
Annual budget
৳81,769,100,000
Staff
—
Established
2001
Legal basis
Rules of Business 1996 (Government of Bangladesh); Jatiya Muktijoddha Council Act 2022 (as amended by Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Amendment) Act 2026); Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust Ordinance 1972; Liberation War Affairs Ministry established 23 October 2001.

Actively prosecuting a two-track agenda: (1) list integrity -- 481 gazette cancellations since August 2024 with 6,465 cumulative JAMUKA removal recommendations, and a new initiative to compile a verified martyrs count; (2) legislative expansion -- the April 9 JAMUKA Amendment Act formalises 'Associates of the Liberation War', creates the JAMUKA Fund, and names 1971 collaborator parties in statute.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Established 23 October 2001 by the then-BNP government (not 1972; the 1972 entity was the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust, a separate welfare corporation). The ministry has two political heads in the current cabinet: Ahmed Azam Khan as full Minister (since March 12, 2026) and Ishraque Hossain (BNP, Dhaka-6) who held the State Minister post from February 17, 2026; current_head reflects the full Minister per schema convention. The 481 de-gazetted figure covers August 2024 to April 2026 and is the count where gazette notifications were formally cancelled; the 6,465 figure is the cumulative JAMUKA meeting recommendation total since the Council's formation, a distinct and larger count. As of the most recent parliamentary disclosure, 198,037 persons remain on the recognised freedom fighter register. Budget figure of Tk 8,176.91 crore (BDT 81,769,100,000) is from the Ministry of Finance Grant No. 54 document for FY2025-26, covering both operating and development heads; this is substantially larger than the Tk 336 crore operating sub-head cited in some news reports, which covers only a subset of line items.

Sources