Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s body being carried on a gun carriage during the state funeral at Wellington. (PTI)

New Delhi, June 27 (PTI): Bangladesh today mourned the death of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, recalling his “signal contribution” to the 1971 war that created the nation.

“The people and the Government of Bangladesh will always recall with warm gratitude his signal contribution to our war of liberation and his association with a glorious epoch in the history of Bangladesh’s evolution,” the foreign affairs adviser to the interim cabinet, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, said in a letter to Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw combined in him the rare qualities of a great soldier, military strategist and a leader of people he worked with.”

Army chief general Moeen U. Ahmed in a statement mourned the death of the celebrated soldier, saying the “Bangladesh army recalls his contribution with gratitude and pays rich tribute to the departed soul”.

“The successful leadership of Field Marshal Manekshaw as the chief of Bangladesh-India allied forces helped Bangladesh achieve the quick victory during the war of liberation in 1971,” Ahmed said.

At a condolence meeting held at Gulshan in Dhaka, the BCS Freedom Fighter Officers-Employees Central Welfare Association said the country would always remember the contribution of the iconic field marshal and his valiant forces to the liberation of Bangladesh.

The field marshal would be remembered forever as “the greatest rescuer” in the hearts of the people of Bangladesh, a resolution at the meeting added.

“We gratefully acknowledge the valiant Indian soldiers, who sacrificed their valuable lives to free Bangladesh from the occupation forces of Pakistan under his supreme stewardship,” a message from Muhammed Musa, the secretary-general of the association, said.

“Had his allied forces and the freedom fighters failed to reach Dhaka on December 16, 1971, most of the intellectuals, journalists, poets, writers, thinkers, professors, artists and singers would have been killed by the Pakistani Al-Badr forces,” the association said.

“The brutality they started two days before our victory day recorded the vivid picture of human suffering. Virtually, he and the allied forces saved the people and the whole Bengali nation from utter ruin.”