Dhaka: Bangladesh on Wednesday celebrated the 38th
anniversary of its victory against Pakistani troops in the
1971 Liberation War, that was achieved with crucial Indian
support, and was marked by heavy bloodshed and killings of
millions of people.
A pre-dawn 31 gun salute heralded the Victory Day as
President Zillur Rahman offered wreaths at the National
Memorial, paying homage to the 1971 martyrs, amid a blanket
security cover with police and the elite anti-crime Rapid
Action Battalion troops guarding the celebration venues.
In tens and thousands, people came in thereafter to pay
tributes to the martyrs who had laid down their lives for
Bangladesh's independence from Pakistani rule.
At the Suhrawardy Udyan in central Dhaka where on this
day in 1971 Lieutenant General A A K Niazi, the commander of
the 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to the allied
Bangladeshi and Indian troops chief Lieutenant General Jagjit
Singh Aurora, the war veterans joined a celebration.
The President, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and main
opposition BNP chief Khaleda Zia issued statements greeting
the countrymen on the day.
Leading artistes staged a mock drama show relaying the
moments of the final surrender.
The Bengalees waged an armed struggle after the Pakistani
troops launched a notorious crackdown in a military campaign
called 'Operation Search Light'.
Despite an overwhelming victory of his Awami League party
in the 1970 elections, the then Pakistani regime refused to
hand over power to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
An estimated three million people were allegedly killed
while some two lakh Bengali women raped by the Pakistani
troops and their Bengali-speaking collaborators, mostly
belonging to fundamentalist Jamaat e-Islami some other
rightwing parties.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 18:31