New Delhi, April 8 (newsin.asia): Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claimed here on Saturday that India has agreed to support Bangladesh’s demand that the UN recognize March 25 as “Genocide Day” to commemorate the massacre of Bangladeshis by the Pakistani army and its killer squads during “Operation Searchlight” launched on March 25, 1971.
“India agreed to support us,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.
“We sought support of India in our efforts for recognition of ‘Genocide of 1971’ by the international community”.
The prime minister made a press statement alongside her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi after their bilateral talks in New Delhi on Saturday.
The Indian Prime Minister, however, did not react to it. Hasina’s demand will certainly exacerbate Bangla-Pakistan relations and also India-Pakistan relations.
For the first time this year, Bangladesh nationally observed Mar 25 as ‘Genocide Day’ commemorating those killed by the Pakistani occupation forces on that night in 1971.
Bangladesh is also lobbying with the United Nations for the global recognition of the day.
On the night of March 25 in 1971, the Pakistan army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’, a brutal and barbaric military assault on an unsuspecting population to crush the Bengali movement for rights and justice that had turned into a fight for freedom in the face of persistent denials.
After nine months of the bloody war, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on the world map on Dec 16.
Over three million people were killed and a quarter of a million women and young girls were dishonored, www.bdnews24.com said.
Indian soldiers also laid down their lives while fighting for Bangladesh in the war against Pakistan.
Both leaders recalled the 1971 for which Hasina said “we are deeply grateful” to India.
She also honored the martyrs of Indian Armed Forces who lost their lives.
Modi reciprocated the honour and said the decision to honour Indian soldiers has “deeply touched the people of India”.
India forged its ties with Bangladesh in “blood & kinship”, Modi said.
(The featured picture shows a scene in Dhaka on March 25, 1971 during Operation Searchlight conducted by the Pakistan army and its locally militia to quell the East Bengali agitation for independence)
