DHAKA, July 19: School textbooks in Bangladesh are to be changed to reflect the latest official version of the role of two slain leaders in the country’s proclamation of independence in 1971, a report said on Thursday.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence before becoming the nation’s first prime minister, would once again be referred to as the “father of the nation”, the report by the private UNB agency said.

Sheikh Mujib, who died in a military coup in 1975, would also be referred to by his popular name of “Bangabandhu” or “friend of Bengalis”, the report said.

In another change, former president Ziaur Rahman, who was slain in a 1981 attempted military coup, would be named as the “proclaimer of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu”, the report added, quoting education officials.

The place of the two leaders in the nation’s history remains a deeply sensitive subject in Bangladesh.

Since 1991, textbooks have been subject to alterations by governments led alternately by Sheikh Mujib’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, and Zia’s widow, Khaleda Zia. The two women are bitter rivals.

Supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League believe that independence was proclaimed by a regional party leader acting on the instructions of Sheikh Mujib. Members of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party, however, say it was the former army chief Zia who made the historic proclamation.

Sheikh Hasina led the country from 1996 to 2001 while Zia held power twice, from 1991 to 1996, and from 2001 to 2006.

A military-backed government took power in January after vote-rigging allegations led to elections being cancelled and the imposition of a state of emergency.—AFP