Pakistan: The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Karachi celebrated the country’s 49th Independence and National Day on Tuesday with solemnity and zeal.

The day’s programmes began with the ceremonial hoisting of Bangladesh’s red and green national flag by the deputy high commissioner at the chancery, said a statement of the deputy high commission, reports the UNB.

Expatriate Bangladeshi community members also joined the celebrations.

Garlands were placed on the portrait of Bangladesh’s independence hero Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the flag hoisting.

Everybody present at the programme then sang the Bangladesh national anthem.

Messages from President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the foreign minister and state minister for foreign affairs were read out.

Deputy High Commissioner Noor-E Helal Saifur Rahman paid tributes to Bangabandhu and martyrs of the Liberation War. 

He emphasised the resolution of unresolved issues between Bangladesh and Pakistan, including the trial of war criminals.

Rahman urged the expat community to work together to achieve Bangabandhu’s dream of a ‘Sonar Bangla’.

Bangabandhu declared independence on this day in 1971 after the Pakistan Army committed genocide against unarmed Bangalee civilians. Bangladesh has intensified its efforts towards attaining UN recognition for the genocide.

The country gained independence from Pakistan the same year after a bloody nine-month war that forced an estimated 10 million people to seek refuge in India. An estimated three million people were killed and 200,000 women were dishonoured by the Pakistan occupation force and their local collaborators.

Bangladesh set up a special tribunal in 2010 to try crimes committed during the war. It later set up a second tribunal to expedite the trial.

Most of the war criminals are from Jamaat-e-Islami, a party which openly sided with Pakistan and opposed Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom.