The acting High Commissioner of Bangladesh was summoned to the Foreign Office on Monday to lodge protest on the statements issued by Bangladesh government recently.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Syed Qazi Khalilullah said the acting Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan was summoned by Director General (South Asia and SAARC) and was informed that Pakistan rejected the baseless and unfounded assertions of the Bangladesh government conveyed to the Pakistani envoy in Dhaka earlier on November 23.
The spokesperson said Pakistan also rejected insinuation of “complicity in committing crimes or war atrocities”.
“It is regrettable that attempts have been made by the Government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our ardent desire to develop brotherly relations with Bangladesh,” said the spokesperson. He said Pakistan believes that the peoples of both the countries not only want to maintain but also further strengthen the bonds of friendship and brotherhood. However, sadly, the government of Bangladesh does not seem to respect these sentiments, the spokesperson maintained.
The spokesperson said the 1974 Tripartite Agreement is the bedrock of relations between the two countries.
He said as regards the Bangladesh government’s contention that Pakistan presents a misleading interpretation of the Agreement of 1974, it needs to be emphasised that, as part of the agreement, Bangladesh had ‘decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency’.
“Pakistan reiterates its desire for further enhancing relations with Bangladesh, because we believe that the hearts of the people of Pakistan beat in unison with the people of Bangladesh,” said the spokesperson.
Qazi Khalilullah said it is important for the two countries not to forget the role played by their people in the struggle for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the South Asian sub-continent.
It is, therefore, imperative to move forward in the spirit of goodwill, friendship and harmony for the collective good of the peoples of Pakistan and Bangladesh, said the spokesperson.
The Foreign Office on November 22 had said that, Pakistan is deeply disturbed by the executions of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general, who were both charged with 1971 war crimes.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were “hanged together, at the same time” at 12:55 am (local time) on November 22 at Dhaka Central Jail in the nation’s capital.
The Bangladeshi government had summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shuja Alam the next day and lodged strong protest over the statement made by Foreign Office, terming it an interference into internal matters of Bangladesh.