India, Bangladesh 1971 war veterans' exchange visit to mark Vijay Diwas

Dhaka: 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.

"These annual bilateral visits provide a platform for Mukti Jodhas and Liberation War veterans to celebrate the unique friendship of the two countries,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

It added that the occasion renews memories of the Liberation War “which epitomises the shared sacrifices of the armed forces of India and Bangladesh for the cause of Bangladesh's freedom from occupation, oppression and mass atrocities".

Inputs from PTI