Dhaka, Delhi to jointly protect FFs’ graveyards in Tripura

Indian and Bangladeshi authorities will jointly develop and protect the graveyards of Bangladeshi freedom fighters (FF) along the bordering areas in Tripura.

“We are collecting every detail about the graveyards of Bangladeshi freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during the 1971 Liberation War,” said Shakhawat Hossain, Bangladesh’s Assistant High Commissioner in Tripura. Initiatives would be taken to develop and protect these graveyards located on both sides of India-Bangladesh border, he said.

“After collecting all the details about the graveyards, reports would be forwarded to the Foreign and Bangladesh Muktijoddha Affairs ministries for taking appropriate steps for their protection and building memorials,” he added.The envoy, along with other officials of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Tripura, on Tuesday visited Ramnagar, Jaipur and Akhaura along the India-Bangladesh border on the outskirts of this Tripura capital city, reports The Shillong Times.

“According to the local Indians, around 150-200 Muktijoddhas (freedom fighters) of the Liberation War were buried in Ramnagar, Jaipur and Akhaura areas after they died following the Pakistani Army attacks and succumbed to their injuries in the war,” Hossain said.

“We have learned that there are graveyards of Bangladeshi freedom fighters in other bordering places of Tripura, including the Kasba area of the western part of the State.”He said if these graveyards were protected and memorials built, these places would be important tourist spots, especially for tourists from Bangladesh.

The Tripura government had developed a gigantic memorial and park at the border village Chottakhola — 132 km south of Tripura capital Agartala — in memory of the Indian soldiers and Bangladeshi freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives during the Liberation War.

Statues of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, have also been installed in the memorial and park, which was developed jointly by at least 10 departments of the Tripura government, with the Forest Department as the nodal agency.

source: UNB