Speaking at the birth centenary programme, Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sen said, "I am saddened to see the indifference of the UK and the US to atrocities being carried out in Iraq and Lebanon."

"Even during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, Britain's Conservative prime minister Edward Heath protested the news of Seventh Fleet being sent to the Bay of Bengal by the US. But the current British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is supporting Bush's aggression against various nations wholeheartedly," he said.

"At a young age, I was aware that many of my relatives were in prison due to their political activities. Some of them would come out and we would hear tales from them and learnt a lot. Satyen Sen was my uncle, I learnt about humanity from him. I also became aware of the difference between terrorism and people's movement," Amartya Sen recalled.

Recalling the days of 1971, he said, "We were very worried about the situation in Bangladesh, and it was March."

Satyen Sen was brought to Shantiniketon almost by force as he was reluctant to leave his beloved Bangladesh behind though he was ill and almost blind, he said.

After receiving the Nobel Prize in 1998, Amartya Sen first came to Dhaka, then he went to Kolkata and finally Delhi. While in Dhaka, he felt that if his uncle Satyen Sen were alive today, he would have been very happy, said Amartya Sen.

An exhibition of books by Satyen Sen and a cultural programme performed by the students of Satyen Sen School of Performing Arts were also held to mark the day.