“Kennedy family feels special kinship with people of Bangladesh“

Kennedy family feels special kinship with the people of Bangladesh and will always support the democracy and prosperity of this country, said Edward M Kennedy Jr, son of late US Senator Edward M Kennedy, who supported Bangladesh's Liberation War as opposed to the Nixon administration.

"Kennedy family feels special kinship with the people of Bangladesh who suffered bloodshed," he said at landmark speech at Nabab Nawab Ali Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University today.

He and five of his family members -- his wife Dr Katherine "Kiki" Kennedy, daughter Dr Kiley Kennedy, his son Teddy Kennedy, niece Grace Kennedy Allen and nephew Max Allen -- are visiting Bangladesh from October 29-November 5, commemorating the 50 years of US-Bangladesh relations.

When the Nixon-Kissinger circle sided with Pakistan, whose armed forces and collaborators massacred hundreds of thousands of Bangalees during the nine-month war, the then Senator Edward M Kennedy visited Bangladeshi refugee camps in India.

Photo: Rashed Sumon

He also visited Bangladesh in February 1972, addressed the students of DU and planted a banyan tree at the same spot on the university premises where one was uprooted by the then Pakistani government during the Liberation War, as that was where students began their protests against Pakistani oppression.

Edward Kennedy, brother of former US President John F Kennedy, was the first international figure who visited the post-war Bangladesh.

Kennedy Jr recalled the memories of his father, who told stories of Bangladesh's struggle for independence and the bloodshed not only to his family members but also to the world.

Kennedy Jr visited the banyan tree at Dhaka University premises today morning.

"Our relationship with Bangladesh is lasting…like that of the banyan tree that stands long," he said at the event attended by academics, students and civil society members.

A politician and human rights activist, Edward M Kennedy Jr also highlighted that the values of democracy and human rights for which Bangladesh fought a bloody war should continue.

He said he is proud to visit the Bangladesh, which is much prospering each day.

While addressing the programme, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas said though the then Nixon administration supported Islamabad during Bangladesh's independence war, the American people supported Bangladesh. The US consul general in Dhaka also privately and quietly supported and wrote telegrams about the brutalities against the Bangalees.

Therefore, he said, the US support the people's speaking freely and being critical of the authorities.

Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Akhtaruzzaman also spoke.