Bangladeshi politicians and artists Saturday fondly remembered late Beatle George Harrison, with one newspaper lauding him as a "co-freedom fighter" for the benefit concert he organized during the country's independence struggle.
All Dhaka dailies carried pictures of Harrison on their front pages and recollected how his 1971 benefit concert aroused world opinion for the millions of Bangladeshis fighting for independence from Pakistan, starving in refugee camps in neighbouring India or suffering abuses from the Pakistani army.
The Bengali-language Sangbad daily called Harrison a "co-freedom fighter" in the war, while the mass-circulation Ittefaq daily labeled him a "friend in bad times."
Harrison, who died Thursday aged 58, performed his hit song "Bangladesh" at the August 1, 1971 concert he organized with Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The show raised nine million dollars.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said Harrison "will be remembered forever by the people of Bangladesh for his contribution."
"His concert helped in mobilizing international opinion in favor of Bangladesh and inspired the freedom-loving people of the country," Zia said in a statement.
The private Liberation War Museum said it would organize a concert in memory of Harrison, now scheduled for Wednesday instead of Saturday, and hold a photographic exhibition of the former Beatle.
Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed also mourned Harrison's death, saying he "made a great contribution in the independence of Bangladesh by singing songs on the war of liberation... inspiring the world community and mobilising world opinion in favour of the struggle of the freedom of Bangladesh."
"The nation will remain ever grateful to this great singer and Beatles icon," she said.
Nasiruddin Yousuff, a war veteran and film director, called Harrison "a great man undoubtedly who could combine his talent and feelings for the downtrodden to raise world consciousness."
"He was like a pathfinder for the downtrodden and inspired me as a freedom fighter."
He noted that the concert for Bangladesh was "the first such historical event," which would eventually be followed by other benefit concerts such as those in the 1980s for famine victims in east Africa.
"It was a milestone concert for humanity," he said.
Filmmaker Tarequl Huq Newton said that "to us he was a distant relative."
"Although I was a kid during the war, his songs on Bangladesh still inspire me to do whatever I can for our Bangladesh," he told AFP.
Faisal Siddiqui, president of the Bangladesh Band Music Association, said the country should honour Harrison for his support of its independence and that news of his death marked "a day of great sorrow and regret for all of us in Bangladesh."
Siddiqui heads leading Bangladeshi band Renaissance, which incorporated Harrison's "Bangladesh" in the band's latest album "Ekkaturer Renaissance," which is about the independence war – Dhaka (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
