Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
In a counter move, Pakistan has decided to summon Bangladesh’s High Commissioner in Islamabad Suhrab Hossain for registering protest and convey the government’s concerns over the recent executions of two war criminals in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh envoy will be served a ‘demarche’ by Pakistan Foreign Secretary.
Pakistan’s ruling party lawmaker Sheikh Aftab Ahmad announced this at the National Assembly on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Replying to a calling attention notice of Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers, Aftab Ahmad told the Assembly that the government of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was violating a tripartite agreement signed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India in 1974.
Taking floor at the Assembly, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Shirin Mazari asked the government to call back Pakistan’s ambassador from Dhaka in protest.
Earlier, Pakistan lawmakers unanimously decried the war crimes trials and urged the Pakistani government to take up the issue in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were executed on November 22 for committing crimes against humanity and genocide during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971.
Following the execution, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted in a statement published on Sunday. “Pakistan is deeply disturbed at this development,” it said.
Later, Bangladesh formally protested remarks made by the spokesperson of the Pakistan Foreign Ministry.
The High Commissioner of Pakistan to Bangladesh, Shuja Alam, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka on Monday where acting Foreign Secretary Mizanur Rahman handed him the note verbale.
“The latest move by Pakistan government will further worsen the already strained bilateral relations between the two countries stirring up tensions in the diplomatic channels,” former ambassador Humayun Kabir told The New Nation on Thursday. Referring summon of Pakistani envoy by Bangladesh government, he said, “Dhaka has already handed a protest note to Pakistan envoy reflecting displeasure of the government. In a counter move, Pakistan government also decided to call Bangladesh’s envoy to Islamabad showing that some degree of tensions has already been arisen in the diplomatic channels”.
Humayun Kabir, however, said that relationship between the two countries is multi-dimensional and emotional. So, we expect the ties between Dhaka and Islamabad would not be affected centering on a particular issue.
“I hope the ongoing tension now prevails in the diplomatic channels would be temporary and both the countries will further continue their bilateral ties through a better mutual understanding,” he said. When asked, the former ambassador said, Pakistan cannot show reaction over the ongoing war crime trial because it is very much linked with Bangladesh’s internal affairs and people of the country have full support for the trial.
“So, Pakistan should be kept mum on the issue as any comment on it will not only create roadblock to a smooth relations between the two countries but also hurt emotion of thousands of Bangladeshis,” he noted. “The move of Pakistani government would be ‘counter-productive’ when efforts are underway to improve bilateral relations by the two neighbouring countries,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told The New Nation, asking not to be named. He added Pakistan is going to summon Bangladesh ambassador to Islamabad to fuel further tensions in the diplomatic channel that had already created by the country’s reaction to the execution of two top war criminals in Bangladesh. “The action could undermine mutual confidence and affect efforts to improve the bilateral ties,” he added.
