Veteran journalist Mark Tully, a Foreign Friend of Bangladesh, dies at 90

Veteran British-Indian journalist Sir Mark Tully, whose voice thousands tuned into on BBC Radio during the tumultuous days of the Liberation War and who conveyed the true picture of the massacres by Pakistani forces and the plight of the Bengali people, has died at the age of 90.

He died at a hospital in New Delhi on Sunday. The BBC Hindi Service says his passing was confirmed by former colleague Satish Jacob.

Tully was the BBC’s South Asia correspondent when the Liberation War broke out. He became a household name in Bangladesh for his news broadcasts on BBC Radio, which became a leading source of information on the conflict.

In 2012, Bangladesh named him a Foreign Friend of Bangladesh for his role in highlighting the true face of the war to the world.

Born in Kolkata’s Tollygunge in 1935, he lived most of his professional life in India. He was BBC’s South Asia correspondent, a post in which he served for 20 years.

He was often described by the UK media as one of the BBC’s most famed foreign correspondents.