Pakistan should apologise for 1971 genocide: Mahbub

BNP Standing Committee member Mahbubur Rahman yesterday said Pakistan parliament’s adopting a resolution on the execution of war criminal Abdul Quader Molla proved that it did not want to maintain a friendly relation with Bangladesh.

Terming Pakistan audacious to have poked its nose into an independent and sovereign country’s internal affairs, he said: “Pakistan should rather adopt a resolution, acknowledging that genocide took place in Bangladesh in 1971 and seeking apology for that.”

Asked about Ganajagaran Mancha’s demand for severing diplomatic relations with Pakistan, the former army official said: “Pakistan is a Saarc member state. So, it is up to the government what decision to make.”

On Taliban’s threat to the Bangladesh mission in Islamabad, he said: “It is a very ominous sign. We cannot tolerate such threats.

It is the government of Pakistan that should ensure the security of the Bangladesh mission.”

Responding to a query on the resolution passed by Pakistan parliament, BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said at a press briefing on December 18 that the government had split the country to thwart people’s movement which is why “a country could pass such a proposal.”

He said: “The government should have protested against the resolution much earlier. The BNP always demands trial of the war criminals, but what the government is doing is a trial of the crimes against humanity. The two are not the same.”