lauding the relations between India and Bangladesh on the day of Pakistan’s surrender before the Indian military during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation War, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday noted that both the countries share common histories, heritage and tradition.
Mukherjee hailed the “able and mature leadership of Sheikh Bangabandhu (Mujibur) Rahman” and described him as the father of Bangladesh and praised the helping hand provided by India under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to uphold the dignity of human lives and also the basic fundamental lives of individuals to have its “freedom from the atrocities of military Junta of Pakistan”.
“It was the conspiracy of the military Junta and the ruling Pakistan to deny the legitimate rights of the people of East Pakistan to have their own elected government,” he said.
On December 16, 1971, Pakistan’s occupation Army had surrendered before the joint forces of Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh and Indian soldiers who fought side by side for the liberation of 750 million people of Bangladesh at that time, the President said in a video message during a seminar on 1971 India-Pakistan War and the liberation of Bangladesh organised by India Foundation at Nehru Memorial Museum and library.
For his part, Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh echoed similar sentiments as he drew a parallel between atrocities of Pakistani Army in then East Pakistan and those by Nazi forces saying Pakistan Army’s actions were against humanity which led to its downfall in the liberation war.
“The type of atrocities which went on in Bangladesh (before liberation) is something which probably the world has forgotten. I do not think the people of Bangladesh of that period have forgotten, but the coming generations, probably have founded easier to put it somewhere in the corner and forget. Those who have probably read some of those accounts (atrocities) they defy or belittle what the Nazis did during their period,” he said.