DHAKA: The government on Tuesday summoned Pakistani High Commissioner to Dhaka after the National Assembly of Pakistan had passed a resolution condemning war criminal Mollah’s execution in Bangladesh.

Pakistan High Commissioner to Dhaka Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi attended the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the call.

The government of Bangladesh protested strongly against the resolutions adopted by the Pakistan National Assembly and the Punjab Provincial Assembly and also the remarks made by a senior Cabinet Minister of Pakistan Government on the verdict of the war crimes tribunals in Bangladesh.

The ministry sources said, referring to the campaign of genocide launched against the peaceful and innocent people of Bangladesh by the Pakistan Army and its cohorts which consisted of convicted war criminals like Abdul Quader Mollah, on the midnight of 25 March 1971 and the reign of terror unleashed in the subsequent months, the Secretary (Bilateral) said that the establishment of the war crimes tribunal was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s commitment as reflected in the 2008 election manifesto.

It added that the war crimes trials are not being conducted with any specific intention to rake up memories of 1971 as misconstrued by some quarters in Pakistan but to put a legal closure to the injustice and pain suffered by the victims’ families and the Bengali nation as a whole, he said.

The Secretary (Bilateral) Ambassador Mustafa Kamal conveyed in unequivocal terms that the war crimes trial in Bangladesh is an internal matter and as such the uncalled for resolutions on the verdicts of the war crimes trial tantamount to interference in the domestic affairs of Bangladesh. He conveyed Bangladesh’s strong protest on the Pakistan government’s reaction to the verdicts by the International Crimes Tribunal. Ambassador Mustafa Kamal also handed over an Aide Memoire to the High Commissioner of Pakistan.

BDST: 2055 HRS, DEC 17, 2013
Edited by: M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor
* Pak passes resolution to condemn Molla’s execution