Tourism packages planned for Liberation War memorials

The announcement was made by the CEO of BTB Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, on Thursday to the Dhaka Tribune. The package will include important sites and freedom fighters as guides to fully explain the history of the struggle for independence. “The initiative is to present the key spots, monuments and killing fields. “With the packages, tourist will be able to visit different parts of Bangladesh with our freedom fighter as guides who can provide first hand accounts of the war. We would like visitors to leave with a deeper understanding of our history and the Liberation War,” said Akhtaruz Zaman. So far the package has been proposed to offer places connected to the mass uprising of 1969, Ranma Race Course (now Suhrawardy Udyan) where Bangabandhu made the historic speech on March 7, 1971, areas of interest on Operation Searchlight that took place on March 25, 1971, Mujibnagar in Meherpur where the first Bangladeshi government took their oath and the location where the Pakistani army surrendered on December 16, 1971. The package will also include major battlefields of the war including, Kamalpur in Jamalpur, Belonia in Feni, Chadgazi in Akhaura, Kalurghat in Chittagong, Brahmanbaria and parts of the capital where guerrilla fighters of the crack platoon fought. There is the possibility to create a joint package with India where cites regarding the Liberation War such as places where the freedom fighters trained and where the exiled Bangladeshi government operated from in places like Melaghar, in the Indian State of Tripura and Boira near Jessore border, Akhtaruz Zaman said. “Family members of Indian fighters who fought for Bangladesh during the Liberation War who want to come to Bangladesh can come see all the points of interest with this package,” Akhtaruz Zaman added. He urged travel agencies to promote the packages after BTB rolls them out to which Masud Hossain, managing director of Bengal Tours said: “The graves of five of Birshresthas (The Most Valiant Heroes of the War of Liberation) are inside Bangladesh and these locations can also be tourist locations.” CEO of Journey Plus, Toufiq Rahman welcomed the initiative saying: “Most foreign tourists are not aware of the history of the Liberation War and these packages can help promote a better understanding, both home and abroad.”