If Pakistan apologises, it will amount to ridiculing sacrifices of those soldiers who were not involved in any crime.
RAWALPINDI: The Bangladeshi foreign minister has asked our foreign minister to apologise for the “war crimes” committed by the Pakistan Army during the 1971 war. If Pakistan goes ahead with this apology, it will amount to ridiculing sacrifices of those soldiers who were not involved in any crime. This would also amount to incriminating the entire population of the then West Pakistan, which was itself being mercilessly flogged under military rule. This would also mean that we condone the heinous crimes committed by the revolting soldiers in the then East Pakistan and the Mukti Bahini against our soldiers and their families before the war and against pro-Pakistan citizens after the war. The atrocities committed by these elements after the war were photographed and filmed by the Western media at the Paltan Maidan and elsewhere, with some shocking scenes having been published in various newspapers.
I used to love the East Pakistanis and now I love Bangladeshis as well. Let us jointly agree and condemn all those at the top who were responsible for the break-up of Pakistan in that highly unfortunate manner and the atrocities that were committed by both sides, in a tragedy which I feel is the greatest since 1947. But tendering an apology in the manner asked by the Bangladeshi government is not the answer.
Engr M Akram Niazi
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2012.
