Bangladesh has lodged ‘a strong protest’ against the resolutions Pakistan’s National Assembly adopted on Monday, summoning its High Commissioner in Dhaka, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Mian Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi was summoned on Tuesday evening.
Secretary (bilateral) Mustafa Kamal conveyed the government’s protest and handed the High Commissioner an “Aide Memoire”.
According to a media release, the foreign ministry said Hashmi Qureshi was called to lodge the protest against the resolutions adopted by the Pakistan National Assembly and the Punjab Provincial Assembly.
Dhaka also protested the remarks made by a senior Cabinet Minister of Pakistan on the verdict of the war crimes tribunals in Bangladesh.
The Secretary conveyed in “unequivocal terms” that the war crimes trial in Bangladesh was “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”.
The Pakistan national and provincial assemblies adopted resolution expressing concern over the hanging of Bangladesh’s war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla.
Molla was executed last Thursday night for his crimes against humanity including mass murder during the war of independence against Pakistan.
Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971 after nine months of bloody war. The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami of which Molla was a leader had sided with Pakistan during the war.
Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami earlier opposed the execution saying Molla was hanged to death because “he was loyal to Pakistan and supported Pakistan army during the 1971 war”.
The resolution was moved by the Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami.
Pakistan interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also expressed “deep grief” and concern over his execution.
Newspaper ‘Dawn’ earlier reported that the minister in a statement said: “Till the very end before creation of Bangladesh, he (Molla) remained a supporter of a united Pakistan and today every Pakistani is saddened and grieved by his death”.
Secretary Kamal reminded the Pakistan High Commissioner of the campaign of genocide launched against the peaceful and innocent Bangladeshi by its army and its cohorts which consisted of convicted war criminals like Abdul Quader Molla on March 25 midnight in 1971 and the reign of terror unleashed in the subsequent months.
He said that the establishment of the war crimes tribunal was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 2008 election campaign pledge.
“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.
He also conveyed that this had been the “longstanding demand and aspiration of the people of Bangladesh”.
Taking questions from the media later, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said it was not right for Pakistan National Assembly to interfere in the war crimes trial issue which was internal affair of Bangladesh.
He said Bangladesh had now reached a stage where “we are not afraid of anyone”.
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