In a newly liberated nation many things are scarce and Bangladesh wasn't an exception either. Government documents needs to be changed with the new country's name, a new currency needs be designed and printed, postage stamps of the newly born nation has to go for print while new instructions are required for printing and publishing government gazettes and documents. This colossal task is not a matter to be completed overnight. So what to do?
Overprint them with the new independent nation's name - that's how ranging from postage and revenue stamps, paper-currency to official documents almost all printing matters for government use in a nascent Bangladesh was overprinted with whatever printing , writing and publishing material was available during those early years. From the last days of 1971 till almost the entire year of 1973 almost all government official documents bore the hallmark of the erstwhile Pakistan regime. They were replaced with the name "Bangladesh".
Sometimes these overprints were carried out by writing with bare hands with ball-points , sometimes with newly developed wooden rubberstamps and at times with simply developed printing machines. However the overprinted name Bangladesh was extensively used and today the remains of those overprinted documents are important historical pieces of evidence resonating of a gone by era, the early stumbling days of a budding nation.
This is the collection of various types of documents ranging from telephone rent bill, post-box delivery bills and vouchers, provincial receipt of insurance company, bank documents and its pay-in-slips to trade certificate; from telegraph despatch notes to electricity bills, telegram receipts and fire policy documents; a chief engineer's reply letter issued on behalf of then Dacca university's engineering department , booklets and manuals and many more similar and dissimilar types of vouchers, receipts and official letterheads.
At first blush these may be just mere old paper documents but in reality they are more. First, they have documented the various types printing and hand writings of how the new country's name was used by nullifying the former government of Pakistan. Second, some individual ministries then are now either merged, defunct or exists today with a different title. Third, the articles are also important documents of day-to-day functions of government ministries and institutions.
For well over two decades Mr.Saiful Islam has amassed a significant collection of post-independence documents from various corners from Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna. Below is a collection of those overprinted documents and philatelic items collected by Saiful Islam.
