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Bangla Govt to honour JP Saikia

By STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, March 13 � The Bangladesh government is going to honour veteran journalist and retired bureaucrat JP Saikia for his contribution towards the Bangladesh Liberation War. The official ceremony to honour friends of Bangladesh will be held on March 24.

The Bangladesh government has been honouring citizens outside its country who had in some way or the other contributed towards its liberation movement. A national committee selects foreign friends who extended moral or material support to the people of Bangladesh during the war. The honour will be conferred upon Saikia for the role he played in the capacity of a journalist.

�The honour has made me feel nostalgic. It has taken me back to those times when I was working as a journalist for The Times of India and was based in Agartala,� said Saikia adding that a certain chapter in his past is filled with images of war and refugees.

Taking a walk down memory lane, Saikia said that as a journalist during those times of turmoil, he felt it binding upon him to take the real picture of the war to the world community through his pen.

�When the war was on, Agartala witnessed the arrival of many foreign journalists. However as they did not know the Bengali language it was difficult for them to communicate with the affected and know the real story. So me and some other scribes used to brief these foreign journalists everyday,� said Saikia remembering that it was the office of Dainik Sangbad that acted as a platform to relay the actual stories of war to the world.

Saikia said that the everyday briefings could mould the opinion of the world community in favour of Bangladesh.

�Now the honour has revived the memories of the past and I really feel proud that I could actually see a war of independence,� said Saikia.

The honour is a formal expression of gratitude of the Bangladesh government on behalf of its people.

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