Ahead of the 50th Independence Day of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist and Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) of France recently organised a poster exhibition at Eiffel Tower square depicting the Pakistan Army-led genocide in Bangladesh in 1971.
The posters, in Monday’s exhibition, narrated the large scale violence and torture that the Pakistani Army inflicted on the Bengali populace of East Pakistan, killing lakhs of people.
Members of BHBCUC gathered at the square and called on the international community and the United Nations to declare the systematic killing of Bengalis in 1971 as ‘genocide’. Slogans were also raised against Pakistan.
On 26 March 1971, Bangladesh was proclaimed as an independent nation by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and this led to Bangladesh Liberation War when a guerilla war ensued between Pakistan and Bangladesh liberation forces with Indian support.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is slated to travel to Bangladesh on 25-26 March for the second time since 2015, his first-ever foreign tour after the COVID-19 pandemic.
PM Modi’s visit to Dhaka will be in connection with three epochal events - Mujib Borsho (birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman); 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and India; and 50 years of Bangladesh liberation war.