NEW DELHI – India has handed over to Bangladesh a Mi-4 helicopter and twoPT-76 tanks as part of the 1971 Liberation War memorabilia.

“The gifts are to be showcased at the Bangladesh army and air forcemuseums,” a defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

He said the helicopter and tanks were part of gifts given by externalaffairs minister Sushma Swaraj during her Bangladesh visit.

The memorabilia included 25 weapons like pistol, rifles, machine guns andmortars alongside a large number of artefact, historical photographs,archival audio and video clipping, maps and battle records related to the1971 Liberation War.

“While most items of memorabilia have been handed over to the BangladeshNational Museum; the larger items i.e. PT-76 Tanks and Mi 4 Helicopter arenow being handed over to the Bangladesh army and air force,” Indian highcommissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

The light amphibious PT-76 tanks were used by the Indian army’s armouredregiments in 1971 which played a crucial role in crossing rivers and waterbodies during the war.

The Mi-4 transport helicopter was extensively utilised for heliborneoperations by the India-Bangladesh joint forces in the eastern sectorconfirming early defeat of Pakistani troops in 1971.

Indian air force earlier gifted Bangladesh one Hunter jet fighter, oneDakota transport air craft ahead of this helicopter while India’s navypreviously gifted memorabilia of its INS Vikrant, models of ships that tookpart in the war and archival photographs and its army gifts included six3.7 Howitzer Guns.