In this Friday file photo, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban to deliver Pakistan president’s invitation to her for the upcoming D-8 summit in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will not go to Pakistan to attend the D-8 summit scheduled for November 22 on “physical ground”.
She directed the officials concerned to take necessary steps to letthe authorities know that she was not going to attend the summit, a highly-placed source at the Prime Minister’s Office told The Daily Star.
Ruling Awami League insiders said the prime minister would not go to Islamabad at this period of time when the country is holding the much-awaited war crimes trial and when Pakistan formally declined to make an apology for the genocide Pakistan carried out during the Liberation War in 1971.
The premier had earlier decided to pay a three-day official visit to Islamabad at the invitation of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar delivered the invitation to the prime minister on Friday.
She last visited Pakistan in 1998 in her first term as prime minister.
Before meeting Hasina, Hina Rabbani Khar met Foreign Minister Dipu Moni for 20 minutes when Hina Khar reiterated that Pakistan had regretted its actions of 1971 on different occasions since 1974 and called for the two countries to move ahead together by turning back to the past.
The D-8 consists of Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia and Malaysia. The second summit of the group was held in Bangladesh in March, 1999.
Source: The Daily Star
Hasina with her pro India stance has declined to visit Pakistan…..what apology is she talking about….what about the crimes committed by Mukties in shape of thousands of Biharies N PRO Pakistan Bengali,brutally murdered….bodies of Pakistani soldiers taken out of graves n insulted….what the heck…..come n see the graves of those EBR soldiers who fought n laid down their lives for Pakistan…. maintained with honor n dignity……Hasina,u better think about future n get out of the laps of your Indian so called well wishers….time will tell that India will always b on the look out to damage BD…..HOPE U THINK ABOUT IT.