In a major blow the already strained bilateral relations, Bangladesh on Tuesday refused to accept the credentials of Saqlain Syedah as Pakistan’s high commissioner in Dhaka, according to a report published by a local English daily.
According to the report, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s government did not cite any reason for refusing to accept the envoy’s credentials.
The ambassadorial position had fallen vacant after Rafiuzaman Siddiqui’s retirement in last year. Syedah, a PBS-20 officer in the Foreign Service of Pakistan, was named as the new high commissioner to Bangladesh subsequently.
Last year, Pakistan’s Foreign Office had condemned controversial statements issued by the Bangladesh premier, in which she had urged her compatriots to ‘punish’ those who still loved Pakistan despite living in an independent nation.
“The people of Bangladesh must respond to those who have been lost in their love for Pakistan. They must be punished. We must make them forget their love for Pakistan,” she had said at an event.
