Islamabad tempers response to Dhaka execution

While Nisar sees it as an attempt to reopen old wounds, FO restates its non-interventionist policy.

ISLAMABAD:

The government seemed to be speaking in two distinct tongues on Friday as officials struggled to find a unified response to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla’s execution, the first of a prisoner convicted by Bangladesh’s controversial war crimes tribunal.

Broadly, two reactions came to the fore. While Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan expressed deep grief and concern over the hanging of Molla, the Foreign Office’s response was measured and guarded as it reiterated the non-interventionist policies of the country in the affairs of other states. Separately, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Pirzada spearheaded the government effort to block an attempt by JI lawmakers to table a resolution against Molla’s execution in the National Assembly.

Nisar, however, saw no reason for such caution. He called Molla’s hanging a sad attempt to revive old wounds of the past and said  there was no doubt the JI leader was punished for his loyalty to Pakistan in 1971. “The execution of Abdul Quader Molla is a very unfortunate and tragic step,” he said in a statement.

The interior minister went a step farther, saying Molla “remained a supporter of a united Pakistan” till the very end before creation of Bangladesh.  “And today every Pakistani is saddened and grieved over his death.”

Nisar said international relations, solidarity of Islamic Ummah and wisdom demanded that such events of the past should be put behind for the beginning of a new era.

“But with this unfortunate incident, an effort is made to revive old wounds of the past,” he said, adding that in reality all sides in a conflict resort to violence whenever a country falls victim to civil war.

The Foreign Office was very careful its selection of words.

“While it is not Pakistan’s policy to interfere in the affairs of any country, we have noted the concerns raised by the international community and human rights organisations on the way the recent trials have been conducted which have added to the current instability in Bangladesh,” it said in a statement.

“We wish the brotherly people of Bangladesh well and hope that spirit of reconciliation and an atmosphere, free of violence, will prevail.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2013.