Bangladesh’s Friend and Veteran British Journalist Mark Tully Passes Away at 90

Mark Tully, the legendary British journalist and long-time BBC correspondent who stood firmly beside Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War, has passed away at the age of 90. He died on Sunday (January 25) at a hospital in New Delhi, the BBC confirmed.
Tully played an unforgettable role during Bangladesh’s war of independence. As the BBC’s Delhi bureau chief at the time, he reported extensively on the brutality and mass atrocities carried out by Pakistani forces in occupied Bangladesh, bringing global attention to the suffering of the Bengali people. During the war, broadcasts by All India Radio and the BBC became a lifeline for freedom-seeking Bangladeshis.
In recognition of his contribution, the Bangladesh government honoured him with the “Muktijuddho Maitri Sammanona” (Friend of the Liberation War Award).
For decades, Tully was known to BBC audiences as “the voice of India.” He covered major events across South Asia with remarkable credibility, including wars, famines, communal riots and political assassinations. Reacting to his death, BBC News and Current Affairs interim CEO Jonathan Munro said in a statement that the organisation was “deeply saddened” by the loss, adding that Tully had opened India to the world and vividly portrayed its diversity and vitality.
Born in 1935 in Kolkata, then part of British India, Tully spent nearly three-quarters of his life in India. At the age of nine, he went to the United Kingdom for education and later studied history and theology at Cambridge University. Although he initially aspired to become a priest, he joined the BBC’s Delhi office in 1965 as an administrative assistant and soon established himself as a distinguished reporter.
Fluent in Hindi, he earned deep respect among Indians, who affectionately called him “Tully Sahib.”
In 1975, during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency rule, he was expelled from India with just 24 hours’ notice, but returned 18 months later. Beyond Bangladesh’s Liberation War, he covered major historical events such as the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian Army’s operation at the Golden Temple, and Sri Lanka’s civil war.
In 1992, while reporting on the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, he was attacked by extremist Hindu mobs, locked inside a room and threatened with death. He later described the incident as a devastating blow to India’s secularism.
Apart from journalism, Tully wrote extensively on poverty and religion in India. He resigned from the BBC in 1994, criticising its corporate culture, though he later returned through Radio 4. He authored numerous books on India.
For his contributions, he received India’s Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards. In 2002, he was knighted by the British government. He also held Overseas Citizenship of India and proudly described himself as both Indian and British.
In his later years, Tully lived a quiet life in Delhi with his partner Gillian Wright. His death marks the end of an era in South Asian journalism and the loss of a true friend of Bangladesh.