Described by the government as a case of “brazen interference,” the Pakistan Foreign Office statement criticising the hanging of convicted war criminals has drawn sharp protests from the government and the public alike.
The leader of Jamaat-e-Islam Pakistan joined in commenting on the executions, lamenting the loss of a “true friend of Pakistan.”
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said the statement issued by Islamabad was significant. “We are frustrated but not surprised that Pakistan issued the statement.”
Pakistan belongs to a minority of one in issuing the statement, the state minister said. “The countries which issued statements two or three years back, they did not even issue anything.”
Bangladesh would not accept negative comments from any country about the war crimes trial and the sentencing of war criminals, he added.
Pakistan Jamaat chief Sirajul Huq proclaimed: “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid is killing those people who believed in ideology of Pakistan and opposed separation of East Pakistan.”
The irony of having the Pakistani government and the Jamaat-e-Islam party on the same side of the fence is not lost on most observers.
The fringe Islamist party opposed the creation of Pakistan in 1947 and then, after tweaking its position to survive in the new state, opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, with a disregard for human life that inspires horror and condemnation even two generations later.
Sirajul Huq continued: “It is a black day today because a true friend of Pakistan has been hanged in Dhaka.”
His response to Muhajid’s hanging was reported by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper. He had earlier issued a call to save his Bangladeshi Islamist ally from “an Indian-backed” government.
His party has never apologised for its role in 1971. Its leaders maintain that its position then was correct.
The narrative of the Pakistani government is chillingly similar to that of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, in adopting a dogged refusal to acknowledge its role in 1971 and failing to make a full and unconditional apology to Bangladesh.
Instead, it has chosen to misrepresent universally known historical facts.
State Minister Shahriar Alam said the Pakistani government statement mentions the name of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its leader Salahuddin Quader Chwodhury.
It also mentions the name of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Muzajid but fails to mention the name of the Jamaat-e-Islami, he said. “It shows which political parties they are attached with.”
Pakistan Jamaat reacted similarly after the execution of Bangladesh Jamaat leaders Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman for war crimes.
Huq said they were being punished by the Awami League government for their allegiance to Pakistan.
The Pakistanis state, meanwhile, has systematically failed in its obligation to bring to justice those of its nationals identified and held responsible for committing mass atrocity crimes in 1971, Bangladesh’s note verbale said.
It said Pakistan continued to present a misleading, limited, and partial interpretation of the underlying premise of the Agreement reached among Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in April 1974.
“The essential spirit of the agreement was to create an environment of good neighbourliness and peaceful co-existence for ushering in long term stability and shared prosperity in the region. But, the agreement never implied that the masterminds and perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide would continue to enjoy impunity and eschew the course of justice,” it reads.
As per the Bangladesh, India and Pakistan Agreement of 1974, “The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh stated that the excesses and manifold crimes committed by these prisoners of war constituted, according to the relevant provisions of the UN General Assembly Resolutions and International Law, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and that there was universal consensus that persons charged with such crimes as the 195 Pakistani prisoners of war should be held to account and subjected to the due process of law. The Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Government of Pakistan said that his Government condemned and deeply regretted any crimes that may have been committed.”
The note verbale said Pakistan could not escape the historic obligation it owed to the people of Bangladesh as well as to the international community in bringing war criminals to justice.
“The government of Bangladesh expects that the quarters/authorities in Pakistan would act responsibly and would refrain from continuing such uncalled for statements particularly on Bangladesh’s internal matters,” it said.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
