Dhaka, April 15 -- Liberation War Affairs Minister Ahmed Azam Khan has told parliament that Bangladesh currently has 198,037 recognised freedom fighters from the 1971 Liberation War, based on the integrated list preserved in the ministry's Management Information System (MIS).

He provided the figure on Wednesday during the question-answer session in response to a question from MP AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon. The sitting was chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad.

The minister also said the government has no plan at present to raise the honorarium allowance for freedom fighters.

Replying to a supplementary question from Chuadanga-2 MP Md Nurul Amin, he said there was also no government plan to build separate health complexes for freedom fighter...