Agartala, Dec 16 (IANS): Vijay Diwas was celebrated in Tripura Monday to commemorate the heroic soldiers of the Indian Army who laid down their lives in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War that led to the formation of the new country following division of Pakistan.

The Instrument of Surrender was signed by the Eastern Command of the Pakistan Armed Forces in Dhaka Dec 16, 1971, bringing the war for liberation of Bangladesh to an end.

A wreath-laying ceremony was organised at the War Memorial in the Tripura capital Agartala.

Tripura Governor Devanand Konwar, accompanied by high dignitaries and security officials, laid the wreaths in memory of the slain soldiers.

India's Border Security Force and Border Guards Bangladesh officials and troopers exchanged sweets at various locations along the international border in celebration.

Discussions, cultural functions and a get-together of people from various walks of life were part of a day-long programme at the Bangladesh diplomatic mission in Agartala.

Historian Bikach Chowdhury said Tripura had six to seven camps in four sectors from where the 'muktijoddhas' (freedom fighters) fought Pakistani forces in the nine-month-long war in 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh, from what was earlier East Pakistan.

"Over 1,600,000 Bangladeshis - a number larger than the state's then total population of 1,500,000 - had taken shelter in Tripura alone," he said.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, 10 million men, women and children from then East Pakistan took shelter in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.

The 'Mukti Juddha' (Liberation War), as it is called in Bangladesh, later turned into a full-scale India-Pakistan war, leading to the surrender of nearly 90,000 Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka Dec 16, 1971.

India was the first country to recognise Bangladesh.

The Tripura government is creating a "Mukti Juddha" park to commemorate the Bangladesh Liberation War and its heroes.