Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has announced to return the award conferred on his late father by the Bangladeshi government in 2013.
Mir’s father, Waris Mir was awarded the “Foreign Friends of Bangladesh Award” in 2013 for raising his voice against the East Pakistan operation in 1971.
During his show “Capital Talk” on Friday, Hamid said he will return the award to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for deteriorating the country's relation with Pakistan, reported Geo TV and the Daily Pakistan.
Hamid said that Pakistanis were “deceived” by with such awards, and therefore should be returned.
Hamid said at the time of receiving the award, he didn't think the Bangladeshi prime minister would “destroy the relation between the two countries”.
The “Foreign Friends of Bangladesh Award” was conferred on five selected Pakistanis at a ceremony in Dhaka in 2013.
The recipients of awards from Pakistan were mainly those whose fathers had opposed Army action in then East Pakistan. They are - Saleema Hashmi, daughter of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Asma Jahangir, daughter of Malik Ghulam Jilani, Hamid Mir, the son of Professor Waris Mir, Hasil Bux Bizenjo, the son of Ghaus Bux Bizenjo and the daughter of Habib Jalib.