Pak minister raps Bangladesh for ‘opening old wounds’

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Abdul Quader Mollah was undoubtedly executed because of his loyalty and solidarity with Pakistan in 1971. Dawn file photo

While the Pakistan government Friday appeared hesitant to condemn execution of Abdul Quader Mollah, the country’s Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan issued a strong statement of his own denouncing the act as “most regrettable and painful”.

Mollah’s execution echoed in the National Assembly when the parliamentary leader of Pakistani Jamaat-i-Islami, Sahibzada Tariqullah, demanded the house pass a condemnatory resolution and adjourn for the day in memory of the executed politician, according to Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada sought, and got, time from Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq until Monday to seek the opinion of the foreign ministry and other parties in the house about the execution.

Criticising Bangladesh for what he said opening old wounds by executing Mollah, Nisar, in a statement issued, said executing Mollah after a delay of 42 years to the events of 1971 was very unfortunate and tragic and some circles are declaring it a judicial murder.

Mollah was undoubtedly hanged because of his loyalty and solidarity with Pakistan in 1971, he noted.

“Till the very end before creation of Bangladesh, he (Mollah) remained supporter of a united Pakistan and today every Pakistani is saddened and grieved on his death,” the Dawn report quoted him as saying.

Khan said abiding by the demand of international relations, solidarity of international Islamic community and wisdom, conditions and events of the past should be put behind, starting a new era.

“But with this unfortunate incident, an effort is made to revive old wounds of the past.”

“In reality, whenever any country regrettably falls victim to a civil war, then all sides in the conflict resort to violence,” said the Pakistan federal minister.

The minister said it was necessary for peace and brotherhood that strategy of tolerating each other should be adopted in the larger national interest.

Criticising the Bangladesh government, he said, “It would have been better if the Bangladeshi government had shown farsightedness, bigheartedness and magnanimity instead of opening old wounds.”