- Monday, December 16, 2024
Vijay Diwas commemorates the Pakistan military’s surrender to Indian forces, which led to the liberation of Bangladesh
By: Shajil Kumar
EIGHT Indian military veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War have reached Dhaka while eight war veterans of the Bangladesh Army arrived in Kolkata to join the Vijay Diwas celebrations in the two countries, officials said.
Vijay Diwas commemorates the Pakistan military’s surrender to Indian forces. India’s historic victory led to the liberation of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh officials and the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said two serving officers from both sides, comprised of the delegations, will attend the celebrations in Dhaka and Kolkata. They reached their destination cities on Sunday.
The Bangladeshi delegation comprised Mukti Jodhas, who were part of the guerrilla resistance force in East Pakistan opposing the Pakistan rule there.
The Vijay Diwas celebration and the visit by the two countries’ delegations come amid strains over the alleged violence against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh since the ouster of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League regime in a student-led uprising on August 5. Hasina fled the country and has since taken refuge in India.
The interim government of Muhammad Yunus has firmly rejected any major communal violence. Hindus constitute around eight per cent of Bangladesh’s population.
“The exchange of veterans’ visits is a reminder of friendship forged in 1971,” a political analyst in Dhaka said.
He said Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s one-day Dhaka visit on December 9 for foreign office consultations with his counterpart Jashim Uddin partly eased the tensions in bilateral ties as he also met Yunus and his de facto foreign minister Touhid Hossain.
“Now the exchange of the veterans’ visits is expected to manifest the goodwill of both the countries for each other,” the analyst said.
Both India and Bangladesh celebrate the victory over Pakistan on December 16, 1971, and every year, they invite each other’s war veterans and serving officers to participate in the celebrations in two countries.
Bangladesh celebrates its Independence Day on March 26 but Dhaka emerged as the free capital of a free country on December 16 after nine months of Liberation War with crucial Indian assistance.
Victory Day extra significant: Yunus
Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus on Monday led Bangladesh in celebrating the 54th Victory Day and called this year’s celebration extra significant after the ouster of what he referred to as the “world’s worst autocratic government”.
In his speech to mark the occasion, the 84-year-old leader did not mention the country’s founding leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Yunus and Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin separately paid tributes to millions of Liberation War martyrs and the National Memorial at Savar on the outskirts of the capital.
“I recall the millions of martyrs including numerous children and juveniles, youths and the elderly people’s sacrifices that made possible the achievement of our independence,” Yunus said in a televised speech.
His address, however, made no mention of the political leadership in 1971 and that of Rahman, the father of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina.
Yunus said, “Because of our faults we could not give completeness to our achievements” and of late a “monstrous autocratic government had grabbed the country which virtually promised that it will not allow anything to remain which could benefit the country”.
Yunus said the ouster of the “world’s worst autocratic government (Hasina’s Awami League regime)” and forcing it to flee amid a mass upsurge earned extra significance to the celebration this year.
A student-led uprising ousted the regime of prime minister Hasina on August 5, forcing her to take refuge in India.
An interim government was installed after here ouster with Professor Yunus as the Chief Adviser or de facto prime minister.
Bangladesh elections
Yunus on Monday said the next general election in the country could take place by the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026.
He, however, said the timing of the election will largely depend upon the political consensus and the extent of the reforms that must be carried out prior to it.
“Broadly speaking, the election can be scheduled between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026,” he said in a televised speech to the nation on Vijay Diwas.
Yunus highlighted the extensive work required to update the voter list, a critical step in the election process.
“From now on, the responsibility has been entrusted to them to start the process of forming the future government. They have started their preparations. They have a lot of work to do,” he said.
Yunus said no one has had the opportunity to verify the voters’ list.
“We have to make sure that the names of all those who have become eligible to vote in the last 15 years are included in the voters’ list. This is a big task,” he said. (PTI)
