Pakistan has turned down Bangladesh's demand for a formal apology over what Pakistan's troops did in the then East Pakistan during the 1971 war, making it loud and clear that both nations have to look forward to enhance bilateral ties rather than dwelling on the past.
According to sources, a Bangladeshi delegation headed by Foreign Secretary Mohammed Mijarul Quayes, which visited Islamabad last month, put Foreign Ministry officials in a state of disbelief by putting forth a number of controversial demands, The Nation reports.
"Before we could move ahead to enhance our bilateral relations, Bangladesh wants Pakistan to offer a formal apology against its army's wrongdoings during the 1971 war," diplomatic sources quoted Mijarul Quayes, as saying, when the officials of two nations met here last month for their annual talks after a lapse of three years.
Elaborating his standpoint, the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary said that Dhaka believed that a formal Pakistani apology would be helpful in strengthening the bilateral ties.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were again taken aback when the Bangladeshi side demanded the country's share of the four-billion-dollar worth of the pre-independence exchange, bank credit, and movable assets, which (according to the Bangladeshi side) were deposited or protected in West Pakistan during the 1971 war.
In addition to that, the visitors told the Pakistani side that Bangladesh also wanted the settlement of 200 million dollars, which Pakistan received from the international community as donation for the 1970 cyclone victims of the then East Pakistan.
However, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir politely turned down their demand for an apology, and made it clear to them that Pakistan was willing to enhance bilateral ties with Bangladesh, and suggested them to move ahead by burying the past.
"We should explore the opportunities to enhance trade and bilateral ties rather than living in the past," Bashir said.
Sources privy to the meeting said that both Pakistan and Bangladesh were keen to reinvigorate the bilateral ties and suggested to their present leaderships to undertake bold steps to take the bilateral relations to a genuinely meaningful level, as both nations were "now being run by elected representatives".
According to sources, a Bangladeshi delegation headed by Foreign Secretary Mohammed Mijarul Quayes, which visited Islamabad last month, put Foreign Ministry officials in a state of disbelief by putting forth a number of controversial demands, The Nation reports.
"Before we could move ahead to enhance our bilateral relations, Bangladesh wants Pakistan to offer a formal apology against its army's wrongdoings during the 1971 war," diplomatic sources quoted Mijarul Quayes, as saying, when the officials of two nations met here last month for their annual talks after a lapse of three years.
Elaborating his standpoint, the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary said that Dhaka believed that a formal Pakistani apology would be helpful in strengthening the bilateral ties.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials were again taken aback when the Bangladeshi side demanded the country's share of the four-billion-dollar worth of the pre-independence exchange, bank credit, and movable assets, which (according to the Bangladeshi side) were deposited or protected in West Pakistan during the 1971 war.
In addition to that, the visitors told the Pakistani side that Bangladesh also wanted the settlement of 200 million dollars, which Pakistan received from the international community as donation for the 1970 cyclone victims of the then East Pakistan.
However, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir politely turned down their demand for an apology, and made it clear to them that Pakistan was willing to enhance bilateral ties with Bangladesh, and suggested them to move ahead by burying the past.
"We should explore the opportunities to enhance trade and bilateral ties rather than living in the past," Bashir said.
Sources privy to the meeting said that both Pakistan and Bangladesh were keen to reinvigorate the bilateral ties and suggested to their present leaderships to undertake bold steps to take the bilateral relations to a genuinely meaningful level, as both nations were "now being run by elected representatives".
And how it matters was demonstrated beautifully and poignantly by German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, that man of peace, when he went and knelt before Israel
The German chancellor could well have declined to do that, seeing that he himself had run from the Nazis, that his politics had nothing in common with that of Hitler and his brutal regime. But, then again, Brandt knew that the road to the future would stay blocked until the past had adequately been tackled.
It is a lessonPakistan Bangladesh
The German chancellor could well have declined to do that, seeing that he himself had run from the Nazis, that his politics had nothing in common with that of Hitler and his brutal regime. But, then again, Brandt knew that the road to the future would stay blocked until the past had adequately been tackled.
It is a lesson
German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, a man of peace has said in his speech on December 10, 1971 in Oslo
In the past few weeks I have received many letters from every part of the world: from heads of state and school children, from happy and tormented people, from a relative of Anne Frank, from prisoners. Among the first letters was one from a lady whose life had not been easy and who reminded me of the story of the Red Indian boy asking his father, as they came out of the cinema: "Do we never win?"
Mr. Brandt we won our Victory, and even you are no more in this world we do like to honor you in our 40th Victory Day. -Monaz Haque www.bangladeshonline.de
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