Victory Day Reception & Cultural Program Organized at Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC

UsaNewsOnline.Com, Washington DC, 19 December : A Victory Day reception followed by a cultural program was organized at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC on Saturday evening marking the 44th Victory Day of Bangladesh’s Great War of Liberation.
Foreign diplomats, senior US state department officials, political leaders, academics, intellectuals, artistes and leading members of the Bangladesh diaspora attended the function on the concluding day of the two day V-day celebration.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin paying rich tributes to the martyrs of the liberation war said the genocide on the Bengalis was unleashed on the harrowing night of the 25th March, 1971. The ruthless brutality of the genocide stunned the conscience of the world.
He said in the USA, the American people, took the side of the brutalized Bengalis. Among them, leading for our cause and justice, were human rights champions like indomitable Senator Edward Kennedy, former US diplomat and Consul General in Dhaka Archer K. Blood, famous musician George Harrison, gifted poet Allen Ginsberg and many others.
Ambassador Ziauddin said many other Americans and prominent personalities from all over the world were honored with special recognition by the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for their heroic role in support of the helpless Bengali people in 1971.
The Ambassador said the current government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a bold step in holding trials of war criminals who had collaborated with the Pakistani army in perpetrating atrocities and crimes against the Bengali nation. He said the trials and punishments was to heal the wounds of the war and to close, once for all, the agony-ridden chapter of our nation’s history.
Ziauddin said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina envisions Bangladesh as a middle income country by 2021. ”Our efforts are greatly supported by our development partners,” he said, adding the USA is prominent among them in development and in foreign relations.

He said Bangladesh and the USA held their fourth Partnership Dialogue. He mentioned about Dhaka and Washington’s commitments to human rights, trade and investment, international peace, counter-terrorism, climate change, counter human trafficking, women empowerment, etc.
The Ambassador said today, the USA is Bangladesh’s single largest export destination and a major sources of foreign investment and remittances. Both countries must build on this robust partnership and expand its horizons to newer areas of mutual cooperation.
“The commitment that we made in the last partnership dialogue would surely pave the way for deeper ties in many ears spheres of our bilateral relations, ‘” he told the function.
At the beginning of the program a one minute silence was observed to show respect to the millions of martyrs of the liberation war. The program was conducted by the embassy’s first secretary Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun.
During the hour long cultural program moderated by the embassy’s first secretary (political and cultural) Ms. Samia Israt Ronee, members of the embassy family rendered the opening chorus—“Aji Bangladesher Hridoy Hote” and “Joy Bangla Banglar Joy”. Later, solo music and dance presented by cultural groups—Barnamala, Bangla School and Friends and Families– enthralled the audience.