Dhaka chides Islamabad over ‘interference in affairs’

'Govt of Bangladesh strongly rejects Pakistan’s claim that these [executions] are recriminations for political gains'

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s acting high commissioner to protest its interference in its affairs after Islamabad said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by the execution of a top Jamaat-e-Islami party figure.

Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed on Saturday at Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of the capital, for murder, confinement, torture and incitement to religious hatred during the war.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by Ali’s execution, describing the proceedings of the war tribunal as ‘flawed’.

On Sunday, Pakistan’s acting high commissioner, Samina Mehtab, was summoned to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry where Additional Foreign Secretary Kamrul Ahsan lodged a formal protest.

“By repeatedly taking the side of those Bangladesh nationals who are convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide, Pakistan has once again acknowledged its direct involvement and complicity with the mass atrocity crimes committed during 1971 war,” Bangladesh said in a statement.

“The Government of Bangladesh strongly rejects Pakistan’s claim that these [executions] are ‘recriminations for political gains’.”

Speaking to journalists after their meeting, Ahsan said that He said that he told the Pakistani envoy “there is no scope for making comments in this regard”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2016.