Bangladesh Liberation Archives commemorates Testimony of Sixty: Never Again in Bangladesh Embassy, Washington DC

USANEWS ONLINE : Bangladesh Libation Archives in Washington DC in co-operation with the Embassy of Bangladesh on Sunday (October 21, 2012) commemorated the landmark event of 1971 publication of the broadsheet entitled “Testimony of Sixty : Never Again” at the Bangabandhu Auditorium of the Embassy. The publication event of Testimony of Sixty was aimed at appealing to the world leaders to stand against the atrocities, oppression and genocide operated by Pakistani army during our war of Independence in 1971. Pakistani army operated genocide killing three million innocent people, two lacks women were violated and ten million people took refuse in India to save their lives during the nineth month Liberation War. The programs include photo exhibition reflecting the history of Bangladesh Independence, documentary film on Bangabandhu’s historic seventh month speech which directed the people to fight against the Pakistani army to achieve Independence of the country, patriotic songs, recitation from poem, reading out from the testimony, and reminiscence of genocides in other countries including Rwanda and Cambodia.

Dr. Sothiarith Im of Cambodia, Mr. James Enshimiey of Rwanda, singer Milia Ali and Dr. Syed Ashraf Ahmed of Bangladesh told the heartfelt stories of genocides in their own countries during the Independence war. Mr. Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury, former Chief of VOA and Tanvir  Sarwar Rana recited poems on the occasion.

Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Deputy Chief of Mission, spoke on behalf of the Embassy of Bangladesh. Mr. Muhith, in his speech, said Testimony of Sixty is an eyewitness account of one particular nation’s freedom struggle at one particular moment of history- Bangladesh in 1971. He said ‘We should never miss the universal message it carries, which is- when one part of humanity plunges into distress, the rest cannot stay aloof and see it only as an onlooker. This document takes us back to the heroics of the ‘borderless’ comrades who joined hands with our freedom fighters, he added.

‘Dhroopod’, a cultural organization in DC, ‘Ekattorer Golpo on Independence War’, ‘Drishtipat DC’, Friends of Liberation War Museum, Liberation War Museum Dhaka, Bangladesh and International coalition of sites of conscience participated the programs.

The programs of ‘Testimony of Sixty: Never Again’ was moderated by Mr. Anis Ahmed of VOA. Dr. Shamima Daisy gave vote of thanks to the Embassy participants for co-operating such an excellent event.