Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Modi invited for Bangladesh centenary: Envoy

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi is among the special guests invited for the centenary celebrations of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka next month because India played an intrinsic role in the country's liberation, according to Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem.

The envoy said the celebrations on March 17, which coincide with the 100th birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujib-referred to as "Bangabandhu" or the father of the Bengali Nation will kick off a year-long series of events in Bangladesh as well as the UK.


"Prime minister Modi is among the special guests invited to the centenary, which also has intrinsic links with Bangabandhu's homecoming in 1971," Tasneem told in an interview.

"The roadmap of that journey is that he first stopped in London, where he was officially recognised as the president of the independent state of Bangladesh and had bilateral meetings at 10 Downing Street. Then he was flown to Delhi, where he held a public gathering with (then Indian prime minister) Indira Gandhi," she recalled.

The diplomat traced the active role played by Gandhi at the time alongside the then UK prime minister, Edward Heath, to seek Sheikh Mujib's release from Karachi Jail in Pakistan.

"They collectively played a very proactive role in the release of Bangabandhu and to ensure that he was not harmed in any way. So, at the very genesis of Bangladesh, the relationships were clear and the Bangladesh-India ties remain as strong till date, as do the UK-Bangladesh ties," she said.

In reference to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was passed by the Indian Parliament in December last year to grant citizenship rights to persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries including Bangladesh, the envoy said the implication of the law was "hurtful" to Bangladesh.

"The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said it is an internal matter of India but also quite unnecessary. Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh have done very well for themselves, especially in the financial sphere, as they have a particular skill with mathematics and accounts," she said.

Amid a recent unrest over the contentious law in Delhi, there have been some calls for Bangladesh to withdraw Modi's invite to the centenary celebrations in Dhaka next month, a demand rejected by the Bangladeshi government.

(PTI)

More For You

Terror attack in Pahalgam triggers tourist exodus

Security personnel inspect the site in the aftermath of an attack as food stall chairs lie empty in Pahalgam, about 90km (55 miles) from Srinagar on April 23, 2025. (Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)

Terror attack in Pahalgam triggers tourist exodus

INDIAN tourist brochures dub the Himalayan region of Kashmir "Little Switzerland", and its mountain meadows are usually packed with visitors escaping the sweltering summer heat in the lowland plains of India.

On Wednesday (23), a day after gunmen killed 26 men in an attack on the popular tourist site of Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah reported an "exodus of our guests".

Keep ReadingShow less
 Yvette Cooper

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has instructed officials to release the data, which includes the types of crimes committed.

Getty Images

Foreign criminals’ data to be released by year-end

THE UK government will publish the nationalities and offences of foreign criminals for the first time by the end of the year.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has reportedly instructed officials to release the data, which includes the types of crimes committed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modi arrives in Saudi Arabia to strengthen strategic ties

Prime minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (22)

Modi arrives in Saudi Arabia to strengthen strategic ties

INDIA’S prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah on Tuesday (22) for his third visit as prime minister to the oil-rich Gulf kingdom.

The trip came a day after Modi held talks with US vice-president JD Vance in India, with New Delhi looking to seal a trade deal with Washington and stave off punishing tariffs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Veterans urge nation to 'unite and remember' in VE Day letter

Samina Mahroof, a cutter at the JW Plant Flag Company works on flag orders ahead of the VE Day 80th anniversary on March 18, 2025 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

Veterans urge nation to 'unite and remember' in VE Day letter

TEN surviving Second World War veterans, including three from the British Indian Army, have written an open letter urging people across the UK to come together and remember the sacrifices made during the war.

Launched on Wednesday (23) by the /Together Coalition, the letter is part of a wider campaign marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, which falls on May 5.

Keep ReadingShow less
Vinay Narwal

Lieutenant Vinay Narwal of the Indian Navy, 26, from Haryana, was among those killed in the attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam.

Photo: X/@indiannavy

Navy officer on honeymoon, grandfather vacationing with grandkids among 26 killed in Kashmir attack

LIEUTENANT Vinay Narwal of the Indian Navy had been married just six days earlier. He was on his honeymoon in Pahalgam when he was shot in the head by a terrorist while eating bhelpuri with his wife.

Manjunatha, a tourist from Karnataka, was asked if he was Hindu or Muslim before being shot dead.

Keep ReadingShow less