HT This Day: August 31, 1971 -- Bangla mission opened in Delhi
A Bangla Desh mission was formally opened here today with the hoisting of its national flag amidst recitations from the Koran, the Gita, the Tripitak and the Bible.
A Bangla Desh mission was formally opened here today with the hoisting of its national flag amidst recitations from the Koran, the Gita, the Tripitak and the Bible.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief of the mission, Mr K. M. Shehabuddin, said he hoped the Government of India which had extended full sympathy and support to “our nascent State will soon recognise Bangla Desh and its legally constituted Government.”
Mr Shehabuddin said: “We consider this occasion historic because from this moment, the Bangla Desh flag will fly in Delhi in full glory and splendour proclaiming to the world the defeat of the aggressor and the ultimate victory of the aggressed.”
Rented house
A small gathering of journalists, friends of the Bangla Desh diplomats, and sympathisers was present at the mission building, a rested bungalow in Anand Niketan, a South Delhi residential colony.
The mission will be manned by, besides Mr Shehabuddin, Mr Amjadul Huq, Mr Abdul Majid and Mr Abdul Qarim, all former employees of the Pakistan High Commission here, and Mr Babul Kanti Das who has been deputed to the mission from Bangla Desh.
Mr Shehabuddin said though the flag was hoisted on a separate building to avoid embarrassment to the Indian Government, he considered the Pakistan High Commission buildings in the diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri and the High Commissioner’s residence on Tilak Marg as the “rightful properties of Bangla Dish.”
He said these palatial buildings and similar missions in other capitals were built by the rulers of Pakistan with the foreign exchange earned by the jute and ten of Bangla Desh and as such none had a greater right to them than the people of Bangla Desh.
Mr Shehabuddin appealed to the international community not to condone the planned genocide in Bangla Desh. “They cannot undo the barbarous regime of Yahya Khan to perpetrate further genocide by giving economic and military aid to Pakistan.
“They should withdraw all aid from the aggressor and give it to the aggressed, so that a lesson could be taught to the aggressor, which it will never forget,” he said.
He said independent and sovereign Bangla Desh was a reality and it was in the mutual interest of all States to develop friendship and co-operation with it.
