Bangladesh lodges ‘strong protest’ over Pakistan’s comment on war criminals

Bangladesh has summoned the Pakistan envoy in Dhaka and lodged a ‘strong protest’ over Islamabad’s reaction following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami’s review plea.

Mizanur Rahman, Secretary (bilateral) at the foreign ministry, also handed over a protest note when High Commissioner Shuja Alam met him at the foreign ministry on Monday.

“The statement (issued by Pakistan foreign office) is totally unacceptable,” Mizanur later told reporters.

Earlier, after the Supreme Court upheld Nizami’s death sentence, the Pakistan foreign ministry in a statement said Pakistan had noted the verdict with “deep concern and anguish”.

Nizami is the former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which collaborated with Pakistan in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.

Islamabad has been reacting to the war crimes trials since the beginning of the process in 2009.

“We have also been following the reaction of the international community and human rights organizations to the controversial trials in Bangladesh, related to events of 1971,” it said in the latest statement.

Pakistan also called for “reconciliation” in accordance with “the spirit of Tripartite Agreement of April 1974 which calls for a forward looking approach in matters relating to the events of 1971”.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry earlier expressed its disappointment and asked Islamabad to stop interfering in Bangladesh's internal affairs.

The Pakistan high commissioner has been summoned earlier as well.