Tag Archives: Bangladesh-India

INTERNATIONAL / REGIONAL – SOUTH ASIA: WAR MEMORIAL: Bangladesh is Building the First Memorial to Exclusively Honour Indian Heroes of 1971 Liberation War

This will be the first memorial in Bangladesh to exclusively honour Indian soldiers from the 1971 war.

A memorial to honour the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the Liberation War of Bangaldesh in 1971 at Ashuganj in Bangladesh is in the advanced stages of completion. It will have the names of around 1,600 Indian soldiers inscribed on it. It is expected to be ready by December and the effort is to have it inaugurated by Prime Minister of the two Prime Ministers in March or April, said A.K.M. Mozammel Haque, Bangladeshi Minister for Liberation War Affairs.

This will be the first memorial in Bangladesh to exclusively honour Indian soldiers from the 1971 war. The foundation stone for the memorial at Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March 2021.

“The foundation for the monument was laid by the two Prime Ministers. The idea is by December it will be finished. All the names of the Indian soldiers martyred will be engraved so that everybody can know who are these people who sacrificed for our emancipation, for our liberation,” Mr. Haque said speaking on the sidelines of an event at the Bangladeshi High Commission on Thursday.

We will try to invite both the Prime Ministers, he said noting there are elections in both countries. “That is why we are thinking by March or April we will try to inaugurate it, by both the Prime Ministers,” he stated.

Major Chandrakant Singh, VrC, a 1971 war veteran and author of several books on the war, the latest on Lt Gen Sagat Singh then 4 Corps Commander, introduced Mr. Haque as the first Bangladeshi who attacked the Pakistan Army in 1971. “I feel happy and proud to have been associated with this project. My battalion 4 Guards captured Ashuganj on December 08, 1971,” he told The Hindu.

Ashuganj is relatively close to India bordering Tripura and can be reached by road from India. The idea was to have it close to the border with India, said Lt Col Quazi Sazzad Ali Zahir, a Bangladeshi war veteran of 1971 and who actively worked on the history project. He said that the memorial in a sprawling complex is intended to spread awareness of the war among the youth and will also have a children’s recreation facility on the premises. Ashuganj had particular significance in the liberation war as Indian forces advanced to Dhaka by crossing the Meghna river.

Mr. Modi visited Bangladesh in March 2021 to join the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh, the birth centenary of the Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. “I salute the brave soldiers of the Indian Army who stood with the brothers and sisters of Bangladesh in Muktijuddo… those who gave their blood in Muktijuddo, sacrificed themselves and played a very big role in realising the dream of independent Bangladesh,” Mr. Modi had said in his address and announced that India will donate military equipment used by the Indian armed forces in the Liberation War for museums in Bangladesh.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

REGIONAL: ARTS & CULTURE / CINEMA: Bangladesh Audiences see First Indian Movie in 50 years

Cinemas used to be a mainstay of Bangladeshi social life.

Thousands flocked to cinemas in Dhaka on Friday as Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster “Pathaan” hit the big screens, the first Bollywood movie to get a full release in Bangladesh in more than half a century.

The action-packed spy thriller smashed box office records when it opened in India in January and the star has a huge fan following around the world.

But Dhaka banned films from its neighbour soon after its independence in 1971, in the face of lobbying from local movie-makers, despite India backing it in its independence war with Pakistan.

“I am so excited because a Hindi film is being released in Bangladesh for the first time,” said Sazzad Hossain, 18, at a cineplex in the capital.

“We are all Shah Rukh Khan fans. For the first time I’ll watch Shah Rukh Khan on a giant screen.”

Bangladeshi cinemas have gone into steep decline, with poor-quality local films unable to match Bollywood’s glitz and glamour or draw audiences, and the ageing Shakib Khan its only bankable star.

Some movie houses even switched to illegally showing pornography to try to remain viable, but more than 1,000 have shut their doors in the last 20 years, many of them to be converted to shopping centres or apartments.

At the Modhumita Cinema Hall, once Dhaka’s most luxurious movie theatre, heroin addicts sat outside this week in front of posters for Jinn, a newly released Bangladeshi movie.

“I haven’t seen such a poor crowd in many years,” said one theatre employee. “Only a few rows have been filled up. Nobody watches these local art movies or films with poor storylines.”

Cinemas used to be a mainstay of Bangladeshi social life.

“This hall was like a great meeting place of the Old Dhaka community,” Pradip Narayan told AFP at the Manoshi Complex, a 100-year-old movie theatre turned into a market in 2017.

“Women used to come in the night to watch films here. Our mothers and sisters from neighbouring areas would come here, and when the show ended at midnight or 12:30 at night, it looked like a fair here.

“A woman even gave birth to a child in this cinema hall. Such was the craze for movies back then.”

Authorities attempted to lift the ban on Indian movies in 2015 when two Bollywood hits — “Wanted” and “The Three Idiots” — were screened, but protests by local movie stars forced theatres to stop the shows.

The government finally issued a decree last month allowing the import of 10 movies a year from India or South Asian nations.

“In Pakistan the number of cinemas came down to 30-35 once. Then they allowed importing Indian Hindi films,” said information minister Hasan Mahmud.

“The number of cinemas has since risen to about 1,200 and the standard of Pakistani films also improved.”

“Pathaan” was released in 41 theatres across the country and many shows in the capital were already sold out, said distributor Anonno Mamun.

Allowing the screening of Bollywood movies would prove to be a “game-changer”, he told AFP. “Everyone loves Hindi movies here. Many also love southern Indian movies,” he said.

The Modhumita cinema’s owner Mohammed Iftekharuddin — a former president of the Bangladesh Motion Picture Exhibitors Association — is hoping for a business turnaround.

“I think 200-300 more cinema halls will reopen after this,” he said.

“Monopoly destroys business. When there is competition, there will be business.”

But Bangladeshi filmmakers are alarmed at the prospect, with some threatening to protest by wearing white shrouds of death to symbolise the demise of the local industry.

“Don’t they know about the Nepalese film industry?” asked director Khijir Hayat Khan.

“Don’t they see that the Mexican film industry was destroyed after opening the market (to Hollywood’s products)?”

Nonetheless, there is undoubtedly unsatisfied demand among audiences.

Forest department official Raj Ahmed, 30, travelled 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Khulna in southern Bangladesh to see “Pathaan”, but could not secure a ticket.

“I feel very bad,” he said. “I was waiting for many days to watch Shah Rukh Khan on a big screen.”

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)