Bangladesh will confer the ‘Swadhinata Sammanona,' the highest state honour, to the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the country's war of liberation in 1971.
Mrs. Gandhi, who threw the full weight of her government behind the Bangladesh war, earns the highest honour 40 years after Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.
The recognition of her contribution to the Bangladeshi cause was endorsed at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman will formally hand over the posthumous award to Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president, at the President's House ‘Bangabhaban' on July 25. Invited by Ms. Hasina, Ms. Sonia Gandhi is coming to Dhaka to attend a seminar on autistic and disabled children.
The Cabinet also decided to honour 47 foreign personalities and organisations to accord them formal recognition for their roles in Bangladesh's independence.
