Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh received another blow when Bangladeshi government summoned Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shuja Alam and lodged strong protest over the statement made by Foreign Office, terming it an interference into internal matters of Bangladesh. Alam was summoned at the Bangladeshi foreign ministry in Dhaka on Monday to register protest against the statement issued by Islamabad over the executions of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general — who were both charged with 1971 war crimes. The official further said that Alam was conveyed displeasure of the Bangladeshi government by acting foreign secretary Meezan-ur-Rehman who said executions in connection with 1971 is the internal matter of Bangladesh. The protest note handed over to Pakistani envoy said that by openly taking the side of those convicted, Pakistan had once again acknowledged its direct involvement and complicity in the mass crimes committed during the separation. Ever since 2010, the government of Sheikh Hasina — the eldest daughter of Mujib — has been on a campaign of ‘justice’, which seeks to finally punish the ‘loyalists’ of 1971 who committed war crimes against their own people and opposed the independence of Bangladesh. To add insult to the wounds of the Bengali people, most of these loyalists were given amnesty and integrated into the government machinery by the military regime that took over after the assassination of Mujibur Rehman and most of his family in 1975 in a military coup. Over the past five years, almost 15 such individuals — belonging to the JI and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – have been convicted of war crimes and four have been executed. Two of the latest to be executed were the BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and JI Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, who were convicted of charges of torture, rape and genocide and charges of genocide, conspiracy in killing intellectuals, torture and abduction respectively. The executions have resulted in a huge outcry in Pakistani political circles. The Foreign Office (FO) has described its response as ‘anguished’, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, true to form, is commenting on international matters with his trademark belligerence and suggests that “one group” is against “brotherly relations of Bangladesh and Pakistan” and decries the “death of justice”. The FO considers this a violation of the 1974 Agreement between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but needs to realise the deal it has hinged its response on became immaterial the moment Mujib was killed and none of its other precepts were followed in the years to follow by either country. Events since then have overtaken the letter and spirit of the agreement so clinging to that by the FO is futile. While it is true that the trials that convicted these people have been found wanting in their commitment to international legal standards, and the question of whether Hasina is following the politics of justice or revenge is valid, Chaudhry Nisar has no business interfering in another country’s internal affairs. Commenting on legal standards of Bangladesh is the job of relevant watchdog organisations and Pakistan is in no position, given our bloody history of 1971, to raise a hue and cry about Bangladesh’s affairs. In fact, by these statements the Chaudhry has done more to risk the ‘brotherhood’ of the two countries by enraging the Bengali populace than what he accuses the Bangladesh government of. Once again this episode points to Pakistan’s utter failure to come up with a foreign policy that is appropriate to the present geopolitical situation and facts on the ground.
pk.shafaqna.com
