<i>Remembering Bangladesh's friends</i>
When looting, arson, massacre and brutal persecution aimed at erasing the existence of Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan, was encircling Bangalees, a ray of hope and support shone bright from a neighbour.
This ray was a series of collective acts of humanity from thousands of individual Indians, glowing proof that the saying “A friend in need is a friend indeed” is a reality.
These acts were reflected in a documentary, “Dushshomoyer Bondhu” (a friend in troubled times), produced by journalist Shahriar Kabir.
The documentary was screened in the city's WVA auditorium on Tuesday (December 6). Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee organised the screening to commemorate the date, when India became the first country to recognise Bangladesh in 1971.
The 1.5-hour documentary was shot in Tripura, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Delhi and Maharashtra.
It contains interviews of high officials, social workers, journalists and cultural activists from India who served Bangladeshi survivors lucky to escape through the borders opened by India after the crackdown on March 25, 1971.
These Indians helped in the refugee camps, trained the Bangladeshi freedom fighters and provided moral support at a crucial time when an estimated 30 lakh Bangladeshis were brutally murdered and around two lakh women were violated.
“Deep in the night of April 16, 1971 in Kolkata, the government in exile was finalised. Suddenly we discovered that there was no flag,” said Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal AK Khandker at a discussion after the screening.
“Someone spoke of a tailor near the Bangladesh high commission in Kolkata. We went there and awakened the poor tailor. He agreed to make the flag and spent the whole night doing so.
“When we asked how much he charged, the tailor said, 'Sir, please forgive me. I cannot take any money',” said Khandker, the then deputy chief of staff of the Bangladesh forces.
The documentary narrates the views of the widow of an Indian soldier named Albert Ekka, who was killed while fighting the Pakistani army to save a freedom fighters' camp at Gangasagar in Brahmanbaria.
Now a resident of Ranchi in Jharkhand, India, the widow Balandina was asked how she took her husband's death. “It was very painful, but I forgot the pain as he wanted to save the lives of his co-fighters,” she said.
Around 17,000 Indian soldiers were killed during the War of Liberation.
Rabin Sengupta, a photojournalist from Tripura, narrates how he rushed to Akhaura only to find the bodies of women, young and old, stripped of their clothes, some dead while others lay injured.
“How could I take their photos? They were my mothers and sisters. I could not do it,” says Rabin in the documentary as he went on crying.
Well-known Indian film star Waheeda Rehman mobilised the showbiz community there to generate funds.
The Urdu-speaking Waheeda, in the documentary, says, “I went ahead to help because it is humanity that stands high, not language, culture or boundary.”
Indian military expert K Subramaniam said, “Indira Gandhi's government imposed a 'Bangladesh tax' in 1971, but nobody protested. Now, if a tax of two paisa is imposed, Indians set fire to tram depots.”
Indira Gandhi, the then Indian prime minister, played a pivotal role in generating international opinion for Bangladesh's independence and sheltered around one crore Bangladeshi refugees.
“This friendship can never be forgotten. Let us make it stronger and maintain it forever,” said Khandker.
Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin, Daily Sun Editor Syed Anwar Hossain and acting Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sanjay Bhattyacharya also spoke on the occasion, chaired by former Justice Mohammad Ghulam Rabbani.
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