India, Bangladesh 1971 war veterans' exchange visit to mark Vijay Diwas

Indian and Bangladeshi veterans unite in Dhaka and Kolkata for Vijay Diwas celebrations, fostering friendship and shared history.

Eight Indian military veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War reached Dhaka while eight officers of Bangladesh Army arrived in Kolkata to join the Vijay Diwas celebrations in the two countries, officials said.

Bangladesh officials and Indian high commission in Dhaka said two serving officers from both sides comprised the delegations that will attend the celebrations in Dhaka and Kolkata. They reached their destination cities on Sunday.

The Bangladesh delegation comprised Mukti Jodhas, who were part of the guerrilla resistance force in East Pakistan opposing the Pakistan rule there.

The Vijay Diwas celebration and the visit of the two countries' delegations come amid strains over the alleged violence against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh since the ouster of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League regime in a student-led uprising on August 5. Hasina fled the country and has since taken refuge in India.

The interim government of Muhammad Yunus has firmly rejected any major communal violence. Hindus constitute around eight per cent of Bangladesh's population.

“The exchange of veterans’ visits is a reminder of friendship forged in 1971,” a political analyst in Dhaka said.

He said Indian external affairs secretary Vikram Misri’s one-day Dhaka visit on December 9 for foreign office consultations with his counterpart Jashim Uddin partly eased the tensions in bilateral ties as he also met Yunus and his de facto foreign minister Touhid Hossain.