Pakistan must return all assets looted from Bangladesh, says Health Minister Nasim

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim, who is also a presidium member of the ruling Awami League, has demanded that Pakistan return all assets it has looted from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh was Pakistan’s eastern province before winning independence in 1971. December 16, the day on which the Pakistani army surrendered, is observed as Victory Day in the country.

Besides the usual celebrations, this year’s V-day comes with a demand for a severance of Bangladesh’s diplomatic ties with Pakistan.

The country is outraged at Islamabad’s summoning of the Bangladesh high commissioner to lodge a protest against the ongoing war crimes trials in Dhaka.

Bangladeshis believed to have collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces in committing crimes against humanity in 1971 are being tried by a special tribunal.

Pakistan, in its response to the trials, also dismissed all “insinuation of complicity in committing crimes or war atrocities”, provoking sharp reactions in Bangladesh.

Former army chief M Harun-Ar-Rashid, speaking at a seminar on Tuesday, accused Pakistan of “threatening our national security” by interfering in Bangladesh’s internal affairs.

Nasim noted that the Pakistani reaction had not come as a surprise to him.

“Those who can kill three million people and rape hundreds of thousands of sisters and mothers can do anything,” he said, referring to the atrocities committed by the Pakistan army during Bangladesh’s nine-month Liberation War.

“Bangladeshis will never forgive them,” he said, demanding that the country’s looted assets be handed back.

“We have to take steps to bring them back,” he said.