Bangladesh lodges ‘strong protest’ after summoned Pakistan envoy meets acting foreign secretary

Bangladesh has condemned Pakistan’s remarks over the executions of war criminals.

The condemnation was conveyed to Pakistan High Commissioner Shuja Alam when he met acting Foreign Secretary Mijanur Rahman on Monday.

Dhaka summoned Alam after Islamabad said it had been ‘deeply disturbed’ over the executions of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

“We have strongly protested against the comments,” Rahman told reporters after the meeting where he handed over a note verbale to Alam.

Salauddin Quader and Mujahid were executed in the early hours of Sunday after their conviction as war criminals.

Both had assisted the Pakistani occupation forces and campaigned for a united and non-secular Pakistan in 1971. They took part in killing Hindus, freedom fighters and people who supported the War of Liberation.

Islamabad dubbed the executions “unfortunate”.

Dhaka said the “unacceptable comments” were “nothing less than brazen interference” in Bangladesh’s internal affairs.

Salauddin Quader was the son of Pakistan national assembly Speaker Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, who supported the military action against Bengalis.

The six-time MP from Chittagong served as a minister under military dictator HM Ershad. He later joined the BNP and served as an advisor to Khaleda Zia.

Mujahid led the notorious Al-Badr militia, which abducted and executed intellectuals during the war.

He became a minister during the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.

Dhaka noted that by its expressions of concern about the war criminals Islamabad had “again acknowledged its direct involvement” in mass atrocities during the war by “openly taking the side” of the war criminals.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah in a statement on Sunday said it “took notice” of the international community's reaction to the “flawed trials”.

In its reaction to the Pakistani statement, Bangladesh categorically stated that Pakistan should not make “biased, borrowed and unfounded comments” about the independent judiciary of a sovereign country.

Islamabad had expressed similar concerns after the hanging of war criminal Abdul Quader Molla in 2013.

Its Parliament had accepted a motion claiming Molla had been executed for his loyalty to Pakistan in 1971, drawing angry reactions from Dhaka.

Pakistan’s occupation forces launched a brutal crackdown on Bengalis on Mar 25, 1971, forcing millions to seek refuge in India.

Some locals sided with them to thwart the struggle for freedom.

Suspected war criminals were put on trial after the Awami League-led government took office in 2009.

For its part, the Jamaat claims the tribunal falls short of international standards and accuses the government of carrying out a political vendetta, a charge the government denies.

Bangladesh on Monday said it “deeply regretted” Pakistan’s “continued malicious campaign” against the war crimes trials.

“...This would not augur well for the friendly bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan,” the note warned.