March 29, 2012: Bangladesh government on Tuesday finally acknowledged with state
honors to the many “foreign friends” who lent valuable assistance to the country in
its struggle for independence more than 40 years ago.
President Zillur Rahman
conferred the Bangladesh Liberation War Honor’ and Friends of Liberation War Honor
to 83 individuals and institutions at a special ceremony in Dhaka.
Four Catholic
priests were among the recipients for their contribution during the liberation war
of Bangladesh in 1971.
American Holy Cross Fathers Richard W Timm and Eugene
Homrich attended the event while representatives of martyred priests, Italian Xaverian
Father Mario Veronesi, and American Holy Cross Father William P Evans received awards
in their memory.
The awards included a certificate and a small replica of the
National Mausoleum.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her gratitude and
respect to all the foreign friends who provided moral, mental, material, political,
diplomatic, logistic and military support to the Bengali people’s struggle for freedom.
“We
owe you our sincerest gratitude and profound respect,” she told the gathering at the
Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.
“We feel proud ourselves
by honoring you,” she added. The premier added that her government will honor a total
561 individuals and institutions for their support during the war.
Michael
Barnes, a British ex-MP, thanked the government for the awards. “We thank the government
for these honors. Today Bangladeshi people are proud of their independence and we
are proud to recall those days when they needed support from us,” he said.
Around
3 million people died, over 200,000 women were raped and around 10 million fled to
neighboring India during the 9-month war which saw East Pakistan break away to become
Bangladesh.