New Delhi, August 26: Describing him as “an American hero and a friend of India”, US Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer Wednesday paid glowing tributes to Edward Kennedy, saying he championed the cause of the poor and the homeless “with a lion’s courage and tenacity”.
“Roemer remembered Senator Edward Kennedy as a true American hero, a friend of India, and a strong voice for the poor,” the US embassy said in a statement here.
Roemer recalled his work with Kennedy on issues such as healthcare, youth service programmes and education.
Alluding to Kennedy’s tireless work on behalf of the poor, the homeless and the voiceless, Roemer said: “He championed their cause with a lion’s courage and tenacity.”
“The poor have lost a champion for their cause. The United States has lost one of its truly great public servants. The world will miss his humour, hope, and humility,” he said.
Kennedy, the US’ third longest-serving senator, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a protracted battle with brain cancer at the age of 77.
Kennedy, nicknamed ‘Ted,’ was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Senator Robert Kennedy, who was shot dead while seeking the White House in 1968.
Kennedy’s passionate commitment to human rights came to the fore when Pakistan, which was backed by then president Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, sought to suppress an independence movement in East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh.
Kennedy was one of the first international figures to alert the world of the Pakistani Army’s genocide in Bangladesh and the unprecedented humanitarian and refugee crisis unfolding in the subcontinent.
In 1971, the 39-year-old Kennedy travelled across West Bengal and other parts of eastern India and documented the plight of Bangladeshi refugees. He earned much goodwill in India for his support for refugees and was lionised in Bangladesh.
—IANS