Single issue shouldn\'t cloud bilateral relations

Sticking to their stance that the trials of suspects in wartime crimes in Bangladesh are 'politically motivated', Pakistan foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, however, said the bilateral relations 'should not be clouded' by a single issue.

He said both the countries need to make a more forward-looking approach rather than catching up the past--the time that saw Bangladesh liberate itself from the Pakistani rule through the 1971 war of independence.

"Bilateral relations should not be clouded by a single issue as it is much broader in terms of trade, culture and people- to-people contact, and should, therefore, be expanded," the foreign secretary told a Bangladesh media delegation, now on a weeklong visit to Pakistan, at his office.

He made the remark amid summons and counter-summons on envoys in Dhaka and Islamabad following the latter's interference in Dhaka's internal affairs after the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for wartime crimes.

The delegation members raised the issue of Pakistan's repeated remarks, and even parliamentary motions, over the war crimes trials in Bangladesh and attempt to present factually incorrect claims centering the judicial proceedings.

The Pakistan foreign secretary observed that the peoples of Bangladesh and Pakistan are "bound by the ties of shared history, faith and culture" and there was a need to improve relations, particularly people-to-people exchanges, student scholarships and sporting contacts.

"Our shared history and religious affinity provides a foundation to build this relationship constructively and positively," he told the journalists.

Mr. Aizaz Ahmad, in particular, termed the Nizami execution "politically motivated" and the war crimes trials "flawed".

"As far as the recent trials (war crimes trials) are concerned, we have made our views known.  We believe that these are politically motivated trials, we believe that these are flawed trials targeting opposition leaders," he said.

The Pak foreign secretary made it clear that Islamabad took exception to frequent references of Pakistan in the trial proceedings, which he said is tarnishing the overall bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"These trials are taking us backward, not forward," he claimed.

Citing the 1974 Tripartite Agreement after the war, he said the government of Bangladesh had "decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency".

However, the fact is that there was no mention in the agreement that the war criminals would continue to enjoy impunity and accordingly Bangladesh government opened trial of the war criminals.

Mr. Aizaz Ahmad said it was time the two countries pursued a forward-looking approach in the spirit of "forget and forgive".

"We believe that a decision was taken consciously in the agreement of 1974. We believe that Father of Bangladeshi nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also expressed his desire to move on," said the Pakistan foreign secretary.

He also expressed his belief that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had sent his foreign minister Dr Kamal Hossain to sign the agreement of 1974, and the agreement, he thinks, calls for a forward-looking approach.

"We hope that the spirit of the deal will be followed and the two nations will come in stretching the relations," he said.

The foreign secretary, however, kept mum on the issue of trying the 195 Pakistani soldiers who were supposed to be tried by the Pakistan government for their brutal acts in 1971 as per the tripartite treaty.

He also would not make any comment over the issue of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh.

[email protected]