Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday said his ministry will honour all the Liberation War diplomats of 1971 by writing their names in golden letters on the foreign office premises.
"We will honour them marking the 50 years of our great independence," he said while addressing virtually from Singapore at a function marking the "Foreign Service Day”.
On this day in 1971, Bangladeshi diplomats and staff stationed in Kolkata took over the then Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner's Office and hoisted the Bangladesh national flag atop to establish the first Bangladesh Mission abroad, one day after the provisional government was officially established in Mujibnagar.
The foreign minister said this day is very significant for the independent and sovereign country of Bangladesh.
Dr Momen mentioned that the former foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali was the first diplomat in the USA who expressed his allegiance to the Bangladesh government on April 26 in 1971, followed by former finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on June 6 and another 22 diplomats in Washington DC on August 1.
"Their commitment to the Bangladesh government put the then Nixon administration in an awkward position during our Liberation War," he added.
The minister also said that all the defected Bangladeshi diplomats had made a huge contribution to building world opinion in favour of the right cause of independent Bangladesh.
State Minister Md Shahriar Alam spoke as the special guest while Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen gave the welcome speech on the occasion.
Former foreign minister AH Mahmud Ali, former ambassador Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Waliur Rahman also spoke, among others.
The current government declared April 18 as the "Foreign Service Day” in 2019.
On April 18, 1971, the group of Bangladeshi diplomats and officials led by then deputy high commissioner Md Hosen Ali and third secretary Anwarul Karim Chowdhury declared their allegiance to the Bangladesh government and declared the then Pakistani Deputy High Commission in Kolkata as “Bangladesh Diplomatic Mission”, which later became “Bangladesh Foreign Office” in Kolkata.
On April 6, 1971, two brave Bangladeshi diplomats – second secretary KM Shehabuddin and assistant press attach of the then Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi Amzadul Haq – defected and declared their allegiance to Bangladesh and opened the Diplomatic Front of the glorious Liberation War even before the establishment of the Mujibnagar Government.
