Bangla wants remains of soldiers, Bengal locating burial sites

Bangladesh has requested India to exhume the mortal remains of its soldiers who died during the 1971 Liberation War and were buried in Indian soil.

In a written request to the Indian government, routed through the Bangladesh High Commission in India, the Sheikh Hasina government has said that it wants the mortal remains of the soldiers to be taken back to their country in order to pay proper respect to its war heroes by burying them in their motherland.

Acting on the request, the Ministry of External Affairs sent a letter to the West Bengal government in mid-June "to initiate measures to identify the places where the bodies of Bangladeshi liberation soldiers were buried in Indian soil during the 1971 war", a senior official of the Home department of West Bengal told The Indian Express. According to the official, a similar letter has been sent to Tripura government as well. Both the states share an extensive border with Bangladesh.

The MEA's letter has, however, left the Mamata Banerjee government in an embarrassing position. The state administration is finding it extremely difficult to locate the places where the bodies of the Bangladeshi liberation soldiers were reportedly buried during the war. "This is an uphill task. It is very difficult to spot the places where the war heroes of Bangladesh were buried. Bangladesh government says the mortal remains of its soldiers will be found in bordering districts of West Bengal and Tripura. As of now we have no information about any such burial spots of Bangladeshi soldiers in West Bengal's districts bordering Bangladesh," the officer of state Home Department said.

"Since the emotion of the people of Bangladesh, who are our lingual brothers, is deeply attached with the issue, we are trying our best to locate the places," the officer added.

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