SSSVS demands martyr status for Sher Ali

Port Blair, Feb 10 (UNI) The Swatantrata Sangram Senani Vanshach Samiti (SSSVS) today organised a symposium at the Hope Town islands in Andaman and Nicobar to commemorate the freedom fighters, who laid down their lives for the cause of the nation.

SSSVS convenor Madan Mohan Singh told UNI, ''Sher Ali was given life imprisonment during the Wahabi movement against the British Raj. He assassinated Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India, on February 8, 1872, in Andaman. Later, he was hanged on the Viper Island.'' Singh stated that hundreds of freedom fighters, who suffered inhumane torture at the hands of the British in the islands, were yet to be recognised as martyrs.

''Due to the destruction of official documents by Japanese forces in the 1940s, we do not have the proper documents about all the freedom fighters. The Centre must carry out a detailed survey in this regard,'' he added.

The speakers, who attended the symposium, also demanded the construction of a Sher Ali memorial.

Zilla Parishad Chairperson of Andaman Mariam Bibi, who was the Chief Guest at the symposium, assured that she would take up the matter with the higher authorities.

She stated that the history of the islands in the freedom struggle should be scripted in its true form by including all incidents that occurred, from the first deportation of freedom fighters to the islands, till Independence.

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