By IANS,
Agartala : The Bangladesh government will honour 129 foreign personalities and organisations from 25 countries for helping the country during the 1971 Liberation War.
A Bangladesh official told IANS that these would include 47 people from India, 21 from the US, 12 from Britain and 10 from Russia.
President Zillur Rahman will confer the honours in Dhaka Tuesday.
Besides 47 Indians, the allied force led by the Indian Army, Akashbani (All India Radio) and Kolkata University’s aid association would also get the honours.
One of the Indians is Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, according to a letter to him from Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.
The other Indians (alive and dead) include Sachindra Lal Singha, Siddhartha Sankar Roy, P.A. Sangma, Abdul Masud, Pandit Ravi Sankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Mother Teresa, Waheeda Rehaman, Sunil Datt, Nargis Datt, Jagjivan Ram, Bhupesh Gupta, Kaifi Azmi, Bhupen Hazarika, Field Marshal S.A.M. Manekshaw, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora, Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob, Lance Nayak Albert Ekka, Lata Mangeshkar, D.P. Dhar, P.N. Haksar, Karan Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh and Sarat Chandra Sinha.
Dipu Moni said her government was aware the recognition had come late.
“We have already honoured then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. On her behalf, her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi received the Bangladesh Freedom Honour July 25 last year,” the Bangladesh official said.
Some of the other countries whose citizens will be honoured include Japan, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Argentina, Venezuela, Bhutan, Switzerland, Nepal, Cuba, Vietnam, Sweden, Denmark, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Poland and the Netherlands.
During the Bangladesh liberation war, 10 million men, women and children from then East Pakistan took shelter in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.
The Liberation War, as it is called in Bangladesh, later turned into a full-scale India-Pakistan war, leading to surrenders of thousands of Pakistani soldiers in December 1971.
India was the first country to recognize Bangladesh.