Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem has called on the British government to recognise the killing and repression of Bangladeshi people by the Pakistani army and their local collaborators in 1971 as genocide. Saida made the request at a special event organised by the High Commission (HC) commemorating the Martyred Intellectuals Day in London on Wednesday. “The Pakistan Army and their local collaborators tried to turn Bangladesh into an intellectually bankrupt nation by killing hundreds of intellectuals in 1971,” she said. The diplomat said that besides punishing the killers, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also taken various initiatives to let the people know about what happened on December 14 in 1971. Read: Saida Muna Tasneem receives ‘Woman of the Decade in Public Life, Diplomacy Award’ “We, the Bangladesh HC in the UK, are implementing these initiatives to make the British people aware of this dreadful massacre,” said Saida. Dr Meghna Guhathakurta, daughter of slain intellectual Dr Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta, Asif Munier, son of slain intellectual Munier Chowdhury and Shomi Kaisar, daughter of Shahidullah Kaisar, joined the event virtually from Dhaka.

More Bangladeshi citizens will return home from the United Kingdom (UK) as the government has arranged the second special repatriation flight on June 13.

Around 154 people, mostly Bangladesh-origin British citizens, left Dhaka for London on a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Sunday.

Bangladesh High Commission in London has started the formal registration of Bangladeshi expatriates in the United Kingdom and Ireland to provide them with the National Identity Card (NID).