India and Bangladesh need to ‘give some concessions’ to each other in the greater interests of the peoples of the two countries, foreign minister Dipu Moni said on Thursday.
The officials of Bangladesh and India should implement the decisions of the two governments for ensuring a better and dignified living for the peoples of the two neighbouring countries, she said after laying the foundation stone of a memorial called ‘India-Bangladesh Friendship Garden’ in Tripura in remembrance of
Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Liberation.
The government of the north-eastern Indian state of Tripura will build the memorial at Chottakhola under Belonia district in Tripura.
Bangladeshi freedom fighters had set up a training camp on the small hills at Chottakhola, which is adjacent to Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Chowddagram border area under Bangladesh’s Comilla district. Chottakhola is about 135 kilometres to the south of Agartala, the capital of Tripura.
‘The two sides should allow some concessions to each other, if necessary, in the greater interests of the two countries,’ Dipu Moni said at the function.
She said the governments of the two countries ‘are politically committed’ to ensure an improved and dignified life for their respective people.
‘Now it is the responsibility of the officials of the two sides to implement the decisions of the two governments, she added.
They (bureaucrats) should not think that their patriotism would be questioned if they ‘give some concessions’ for greater cooperation between the two countries, Dipu Moni said.
The Bangladesh foreign minister arrived in Agartala on a two-day official visit on Wednesday. A Bangladeshi business delegation was also accompanying her in Agartala.
The foreign minister, in her address at Chottakhola, paid tributes to the freedom fighters who sacrificed their life during the 1971 liberation war and were buried at Chottakhola.
She also expressed gratitude to the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and people of India and Tripura for providing all out support to Bangladesh’s liberation war.
Several thousand people from Bilonia and neighbouring districts attended the function held amid strict three-tire security measures.
Local singers welcome Dipu Moni by singing Rabindra Sangeet ‘esho esho amar ghore, esho amar ghore’ and ‘mora ek brinte duti ful, hindu-musalman’. An Indian Air Force helicopter carried the Bangladesh foreign minister from Agartala to Chottakhola under South Belonia district.
People in Chottakhola have been the first to take the initiative to build a memorial of the 1971 liberation war on 20 hectares of land, comprising seven small hills and natural water bodies separating them.
Officials in Tripura told New Age that the state government has initially allocated Rs 20 million for the project.
There is a plan to incorporate a 500-year old mosque and Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary within the area of the memorial.
A sculpture of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a museum and a library will be set up as parts of the memorial, which will be a centre for the next generation of researchers.
Bangladeshi painter Hashem Khan, architect Mobashwer Hossain and Professors Mesbah Kamal and Muntasir Mamun of Dhaka University have been providing technical support to the initiative of the government and the people of Tripura.
Valiant freedom fighter Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, who had stayed at Chottakhola camp for some days in July 1971, and Mesbah Kamal also attended Thursday’s function.
Tripura state government ministers Jitendra Chaudhury and Badal Chaudhury, Bangladesh high commissioner to India Tarik A Karim, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Rajit Mitter and SK Panda, chief secretary of Tripura, also addressed the function.
