THE MEANING OF INDEPENDENCE

It has been 44 years since we achieved our hard won independence and the meaning of this word "independence," has changed for us over the past decades. While we have come a long way for a fairly new nation, it is important to look back at the sacrifices made by our people, to get us where we are today. In this issue we have remembered those who had fought bravely during '71– our Crack Platoon that shook the confidence of the Pakistani occupation army with their commando attacks, the radio broadcasters of programmes like 'Charampatra' aired by the Shwadhin Bangla Betarkendra, who kept our nationalistic spirit alive during the war, and our supporters, such as the last American Consul General who spoke out on our behalf.  In our Spotlight (pages 8-9), we have asked our current generation what independence means to them and it is interesting to see how time and situation has changed the meaning of the word for us Bangladeshis.