Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday honoured the descendants of Indian soldiers who died in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Student scholarships.

Bangladesh has instituted the student scholarship for 200 direct descendants of Indian defence forces personnel who made the supreme sacrifice or were critically injured during the war.

Hasina commenced the scheme with awarding the scholarship to 10 direct descendants of Indian Army personnel on Wednesday. The awardees included grandson of Paramvir Chakra awardee Lance Naik(Late) Albert Ekka, granddaughter of Mahavir Chakra awardee Sepoy (Late) Anaya Prasad and eight others.

As a mark of respect for those who made the supreme sacrifice, the 10 children and their families visited the National War Memorial here on Wednesday and paid homage. Speaking on the occasion, the visiting Prime Minister said youths of both countries need to interact more closely and connect to the shared history because they are future leaders and leaders across the borders must work in close collaboration like our leaders did in past.

Conferment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Student scholarships to 100 students of class 10 and 100 students of class 12, is a homage to Indian heroes who made supreme sacrifice for our cause, she said.

Jaishankar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Bangabandhu is our national hero too. Both countries have commissioned a biopic on him which is nearing completion.  The liberation war of 1971 continues to inspire our bilateral relationship, the external affairs minister said. The award ceremony was also attended by Minister for Liberation of War Affairs, Bangladesh, Mozammel Haque and Minister of State for Road Transport, General VK Singh (Retired)among others.

Announcing the awards on Tuesday, Hasina had said here “We are grateful for the valuable support from the government and the people of India in the great war of liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, which was a watershed moment in our bilateral relations....

As many as 1,984 Indian Army personnel were killed in the war, according to the Bangladeshi government.  The Hasina government had earlier honoured other Indian supporters of the freedom movement of Bangladesh, including writers and politicians.  In the past, Hasina had also proposed to confer similar honours to those soldiers who laid down their lives to liberate the country.