Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
Japan is taking preparations to take back the remains of its 19 soldiers, who died during the Second World War and were buried at the Chattogram Commonwealth War Cemetery, according to Bangladesh's foreign affairs ministry.
Chief Adviser of the interim government Prof Muhammad Yunus has already given consent in this regard in a proposal sent by the government of Japan.
The ministry has requested the Cabinet Division to take the next course of action in this connection.
A Japanese team is expected to visit Bangladesh between November 15 and December 2 to complete the process of exhuming, identifying, and sending back the remains, the Japanese embassy in Dhaka informed the foreign affairs ministry.
The team is likely to pay a courtesy call on foreign ministry officials on November 16.
They will also meet other officials, including those of Chattogram district police and Chattogram Commonwealth War Cemetery.
On November 29, they will be back in Dhaka from Chattogram after completing the necessary procedures, including excavation.
They will meet the British high commissioner in Bangladesh, as well as officials of the Cabinet Division, foreign ministry, and Armed Forces Division.
Upon their return to Japan, the team will hand over the DNA of the remains to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for the matching test.
After the test, the remains would be handed over to the families by completing the required procedures, an official said.
Earlier in 2024, Japan had completed the necessary measures to take back the remains of 23 soldiers from the Mainamati War Cemetery in Cumilla.
The Chattogram Commonwealth War Cemetery is a memorial of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
There are 731 Commonwealth burials at the cemetery, 17 of which remain unidentified.
Moreover, 20 foreign nationals who were killed in the war, including Dutch and Japanese soldiers, were buried there.
Among the soldiers buried, there are 378 British nationals, 25 Canadians, nine Australians, two New Zealanders, 214 from undivided India, 11 East Africans, 90 West Africans, two from Myanmar, one from the Netherlands, and 19 Japanese.
Of them, there were 543 soldiers, 194 pilots, and 14 sailors.
Four civilians were also buried at the cemetery.
rezamumu@gmail.com