Two Bangladeshis get India's Padma Shri award
India has honoured two talented Bangladeshi personalities with 'Padma Shri' award, the fourth highest civil award of the country.
They are Sanjeeda Khatun, founding member and current president of Chhayanaut, and Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Quazi Sazzad Ali Zahir, Bir Pratik.
A source at the Indian High Commission confirmed the information to The Business Standard today.
The Padma Shri award is annually announced on the Republic Day of the India.
This year, the nomination process was held completely online due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Sanjeeda Khatun was one of the founders of Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Shilpi Sangstha during the Liberation War and Chhayanaut in the early 1960s. She is now serving the Chhayanat as president.
Sazzad Ali Zahir is an independent researcher and writer on the Liberation War. Earlier, he was awarded with the prestigious Shwadhinata Padak.
Zahir joined the Pakistan Army at the end of 1969 as a cadet. In 1971 when the Liberation War began, he fled Pakistan at the end of August and joined the war in September.
