Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina receives Indira Gandhi peace prize

Описание: (12 Jan 2010)
1. Wide of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arriving for award ceremony and being greeted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi
2. Cutaway of portrait of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
3. Zoom in to Indian President Pratibha Patil presenting the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize to Hasina
4. Wide of audience
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sonia Gandhi, Congress party leader:
"You suffered unimaginable personal tragedy in the assassination of your father together with almost your entire family. You lived through years of exiles, repeated arrests and attempts on your life. You faced all these trials and tribulations with indomitable moral and physical courage, emerging from these storms and stresses with renewed determination and commitment to uphold democracy, to fight oppression and injustice and to eradicate poverty."
6. Cutaway audience
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh:
"Believing as I do, firmly in democracy, justice and peace, as did Mrs. Gandhi, I am determined to achieve them and free my people from the shackles of poverty and my country from the scourge of terrorism. I also consider it my duty to uphold human rights and the rule of law."
8. Mid of Indian Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi
9. Zoom in from wide of Gandhi, Singh, Patil and Hasina posing for cameras to mid of Patil and Hasina
STORYLINE:
Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was awarded the 2009 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development on Tuesday at a ceremony in New Delhi.
The annual award is given by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust headed by Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, daughter-in-law of the former Indian Prime minister.
Gandhi said Hasina''s struggle for democracy and justice symbolised the values which Indira Gandhi stood for.
Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh''s independence war against Pakistan in 1971.
Until then, Bangladesh was the eastern wing of Pakistan.
With help from neighbour India, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation on December 16, 1971, with the surrender of the Pakistani army in Dhaka.
Rahman became the country''s first leader after independence. But he and most of his family and close aides were gunned down at his Dhaka residence on August 15, 1975, during a military coup.
Hasina and her younger sister, Rehana, survived the coup because they were touring Europe at the time and subsequently stayed in India as political exiles for six years.
"Believing as I do, firmly in democracy, justice and peace, as did Mrs. Gandhi, I am determined to achieve them and free my people from the shackles of poverty and my country from the scourge of terrorism," Hasina said in her acceptance speech.
On Monday, India and Bangladesh signed agreements to step up cooperation in combating international terrorism, illegal drug trafficking and extraditing criminals.
India also offered to help Bangladesh with some of its development projects, including railroad infrastructure, dredging, power grid interconnectivity, investment and trade.
India has complained in the past that it was difficult to act against a key insurgent group in northeastern Assam state as many of its leaders operated from bases in neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
New Delhi took up the matter with Hasina''s government in Bangladesh after she returned to power last year and the efforts led to the arrest of the chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom, or ULFA, along with a top deputy in December.

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