<i>Those who were honoured</i>
Bangladesh yesterday conferred awards on 61 of its foreign friends for their outstanding support and contribution, which helped the country emerge as an independent nation 41 years back.
The friends include military officers, journalists, social workers, politicians, poets, authors, musicians, educationists, photographers, physicians, cultural activist, rights activist, government official, and priest.
They were honoured with “Bangladesh Liberation War Honour” and “Friends of Liberation War Honour” awards.
Of the total recipients, 50 are from India, three from UK, two from USA, two from Sweden, and one each from Nepal, Italy, Australia and Vietnam.
Twenty-four of the foreign friends received the awards by themselves. The rest were represented by government officials, relatives or family members.
The “Bangladesh Liberation War Honour” award went to two friends--IK Gujral, former prime minister of India, and late Girija Prashad Koirala, former prime minister of Nepal.
The rest were conferred the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” award.
The recipients from India are Sashanka S Banerjee, former Indian ambassador to UK; Dilip Chakraborty, journalist; Narayan Bhai Desai, social worker; Manas Ghosh, journalist; Afzal Hossain, social worker; Ahammad Hossain, photographer and social worker; Hiranmay Karlekar, journalist; Anjali Lahiri, social worker; Dr Ashoke Mitra, politician and economist; Pankaj Saha, journalist; Capt (retd) MNR Samant, Indian Navy; Prof Tarun Sanyal, journalist and professor; Pabitra Sarkar, educationist; Robin Sengupta, journalist and photographer; Brig (retd) Sant Singh, Indian Army; Col (retd) Ashok Tara, Indian Army; Upen Tarafdar, cultural activist; late Mansur Ali, former deputy minister, Tripura; late Begum Gauri Ayyub, professor and social worker; late Kaifi Azmi, poet and lyricist; late Dipendranath Bandyopadhyay, author and journalist; late Sibnath Banerjee, politician; late Anil Bhattacharee, journalist; late Bhupendra Dutta Bhaumik, journalist; late Dr Sisir Kumar Bose, physician; Nirendranath Chakraverti, poet; late Nripen Chakraborty, former chief minister and leader of the Communist Party (Marxist), Tripura; late Maitreyi Devi, novelist and social worker; late Bidhu Bhushan Datta, professor and social worker; Shaheed Lance Naik Albert Ekka Param, Indian Army; Santosh Kumar Ghosh, journalist; Dr Phulrenu Guha, educationist and social worker; late Bhupesh Gupta, former member of Rajya Sabha; Gobinda Halder, lyricist; late Kalpana Datta Joshi, social worker; late Moulana Abdul Latif, social worker; late Gouri Prassanna Majumdar, lyricist; late Dilip Mukharji, politician and professor; late Santosh Mukherjee, former government official and social worker, Tripura; late Brig (retd) Kailash Prasad Pande, Indian Army; late Babu Jagjivan Ram, former deputy prime minister and defence minister; late Chandra Rajeshwar Rao, former general secretary, Communist Party of India; late Prof Nihar Ranjan Ray, professor and historian; late Capt Williamson A Sangma, former chief minister, Meghalaya; late Pranabesh Sen, cultural activist; late Dr Triguna Sen, former minister; late Amiya Tarafdar, photographer; Sree Aveek Sarkar, journalist; and Ramesh Chandra and World Peace Council.
The recipients from other countries are Sir William Mark Tully, journalist and writer, UK; Anthony Laurence Clifton, journalist, UK; late Donald Chesworth, politician, UK; Joan A Dine, politician and social worker, USA; Thomas A Dine, politician and social worker, USA; Lars Leijonborg, politician and human rights activist, Sweden; Sven Stromberg, journalist and television coordinator, Sweden; Father Marino Rigon, priest and social worker, Italy; late Dr Geofrey Davis, physician, Australia; and Mme Nguyen Thi Binh, former leader of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.