On a day when India celebrated its 71st Independence Day, Bangladesh marked its annual national day of mourning to commemorate the assassination of the nation’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in a military coup on August 15, 1975.
To mark Mr. Rahman’s 42nd death anniversary, the Bangladesh High Commission organised a panel discussion moderated by Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali.
‘Dark night’
The panel members included General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of Army Staff of India, who fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War; Professor S. D. Muni of Jawaharlal Nehru University; Gautam Lahiri, president of the Press Club of India; and Ronen Sen, former Indian Ambassador to the US.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Ali lowered the Bangladeshi flag to half-mast, which was followed by a minute’s silence.
“The assassination of Bangabandhu [Mr. Rahman] on the dark night of August 15 in 1975 left a void of strong and visionary leadership, not just in Bangladesh but also in South Asia,” the High Commission said in a statement
Messages from Bangladesh President Mohd. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were also read out. Mr. Rahman was Ms. Hasina’s father.
Mr. Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family in a conspiracy allegedly hatched by some of his closest aides.
Four decades later, interesting historical pieces of information keep coming to light such as how he consistently ignored warnings from the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s intelligence agency, about the conspiracy.
