Dozens of Portsmouth’s British-Bangladeshi residents, the lord mayor Jason Fazackarley and some local councillors gathered outside Portsmouth Civic Offices for a special flag raising ceromony organised by the Bangladesh Welfare Association to mark Bangladesh Victory Day on Monday 16th December 2024
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00:00Thank you all the people who have turned up today's morning.
00:05I do remember the events in 7th Ward.
00:10I'm Councillor Abdul Qadir of Osman City Council and I'm also a Bangladeshi.
00:16Today we gather to celebrate Victory Day for Bangladesh, which is 53 years of independence.
00:25This day, 3 million people sacrificed their lives to achieve this day.
00:32A nation called Bangladesh, which we are so proud of.
00:36It was a brutal war, 9 months of war.
00:39Civilians, mainly civilians took the arms for the independence.
00:45So it's a very important day, a very emotional day for Bangladeshis as well.
00:53So, yeah, I'm proud to be here to celebrate this very special occasion.
01:01You mentioned that you have a connection as well.
01:05What do you want to say?
01:07Okay, I was a young lad, I have witnessed.
01:10I have witnessed refugees fleeing their homes.
01:15I have witnessed the houses burned.
01:18I have witnessed so many struggles.
01:21I have witnessed the fear of death.
01:23I personally saw most of my relatives were all gathered in one home.
01:30So that we can die all together.
01:33This was the fear.
01:35And when we see the war globally now, it brings me my memory back.
01:40And how the war affects you.
01:43Although we are not directly, I wasn't short or nothing like that.
01:46I was very young, I was 7 or 8 years old.
01:49But still memory is there and it will stay with me forever.
01:53I have witnessed Pakistani army burning the villages.
01:58The shot, I have witnessed all this.
02:01I don't know is it good or bad, but it is with me.
02:04It is with me.
02:06And so how important is this kind of event?
02:09It is very, very important.
02:12The thing is, it is very, very important that people like us remember these events.
02:19And we follow on and we teach and share that to our next generation.