AGARTALA, December 17 (TIWN): The Indo-Bangla Maitri Park at Chottakhola in Belonia sub-division will be officially inaugurated on February 21, 2015 the forthcoming International Language Day and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is likely to inaugurate the park.Speaking to the reporters at Agartala Guest house Member of Tripura Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sudhan Das said that the construction work of the Indo-Bangla Maitri Park at Chottakhola in Belonia sub-division will be completed within February 2015 and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is likely to inaugurate the park. Member of Parliament (MP), Bangladesh Mehjabeen Khaled said that Tripura's role is a very important aspect in the liberation of Bangladesh. “An occupation force had brutally cracked down on a defenseless people all over Bangladesh on March 25, 1971, setting in motion a large human exodus of the last millennium. As they streamed across the border with only their lives, starving and lost, they were welcomed by you with open arms,” she said.She recalled: “Tripura was in those days flooded with refugees, who were more than its own population. It was indeed a unique situation. Nevertheless, through the nine months of our liberation war, the people of Tripura and India stood by our side and helped selflessly the forsaken millions, giving them food, shelter and other basic necessities. How can we not remember with gratitude our friends in need in Tripura and India?”

"Our freedom-fighters also received training and support on this side of the border, and eventually fought with our Indian friends to the final surrender of the occupational forces and liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971", she added. 

The ‘Agartala Shorojontra Mamla’ or ‘Agartala Conspiracy Case’ etched the name of the capital city of Tripura in the history of the liberation war of Bangladesh. Tripura had not only turned into a major base for the ‘Mukti Yoddhas’ or ‘Liberation Warriors’ of Bangladesh, but also provided shelter to over 1.6 million refugees from the then East Pakistan, although that number was more than that of the then population of the state.

There were altogether 11 war fronts in Tripura during the 1971 liberation struggle of Bangladesh. Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni visited Tripura in 2010 and laid the foundation stone of the 1971 Liberation War Memorial Park at Chottakhola in Belonia in South Tripura district.