India to help find Bangladeshi war graves

DHAKA: More than 40 years after the war of independence that created the modern nation of Bangladesh, the government of India said it will help to find the graves of hundreds of soldiers who died on its soil during that conflict.

Indian and Bangladeshi officials believe that about 2,400 Bengali fighters are buried in remote areas near its border with Bangladesh, principally in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.

"We are committed to it," a spokesman for India’s foreign office, Syed Akbaruddin, told BBC.

The 1971 war against Pakistan (then called West Pakistan) prompted the mass influx of 10 million "East Pakistanis" into India, most of whom still remain.

The number of dead from that nine-month war of secession remains unknown and controversial. Estimates range from 300,000 to as many as 3 million.

Source: International Business Times

BDST: 0956 HRS, JULY 21, 2012
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