Not on same page with Pakistan's FM on 'unsettled 1971 issues', says his Bangladesh counterpart

Dhaka: Bangladesh's foreign adviser on Sunday raised “unsettled” issues, including an apology for the 1971 war, with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar but said he was not on the same page with the senior most leader Islamabad sent to Dhaka since 2012.

Dar, who arrived here on Saturday on a two-day visit aimed at rebuilding ties with Bangladesh following the ouster of longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year, held talks with the interim government's Foreign Adviser M Touhid Hossain.

“Definitely I don’t agree (with Dar). Had it been so, the problems would have been solved. We explained our position and they (Pakistani side) did theirs,” mass circulation Prothom Alo quoted Hossain as saying. He said the two countries will continue to talk on the matter in the coming days.

He was addressing the media after the talks between two top bureaucrats of the two countries, who were once bitter enemies.

The foreign adviser said during the talks Dhaka sought settlement of pre-independence financial issues, repatriation of stranded Pakistanis and “seek them to express regret, the apology for the genocide that took place here (in Bangladesh in 1971).” “I have strongly upheld the Bangladesh stance,” said Hosain. When asked if he agreed with Dar’s comments that the 1971 issues were “resolved twice,” he said, “It would be wrong to expect problems of 54 years to be solved in a single day.” Talking to journalists, Dar -- also Pakistan’s deputy prime minister -- said the unsettled issues over 1971 were resolved twice, first in 1974 in tri-partite talks involving New Delhi in India.

“Later, the then president Pervez Musharraf settled the issues of genocide again during his Dhaka visit when he talked in public with an open mind,” Dar added.

But, he said the scope and possibility of “doing good for the two peoples of our two countries is tremendous.” This is not the first time that Dhaka raised the pending 1971 issues with Pakistan.

In April, in the first foreign secretary-level talks in 15 years, Bangladesh had asked Pakistan to resolve unsettled historical issues and settle pre-independence asset sharing. Dhaka also demanded a formal apology for the genocide of the 1971 Liberation War.

Pakistani troops were accused of genocide and widespread atrocities during the 1971 war when millions were killed.

The visits came amid a visible shift in regional politics in the past one year involving Bangladesh, Pakistan and India since the ouster of Hasina’s Awami League regime in a violent student-led street protest on August 5, 2024 and installation of Muhammad Yunus’ interim government.

Hossain said one agreement and five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed between the two countries. Both countries have agreed to move bilateral relations forward, while historical issues must be resolved through discussion.

Bangladesh-Pakistan ties were at their lowest ebb during Hasina’s Awami League regime, particularly when it initiated in 2010 the trial of collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War.

A violent student-led street movement toppled Hasina's government on August 5, 2024, with Yunus taking over as the chief adviser of the interim government three days after she left Bangladesh for India.

The development paved the way for revitalising ties with Islamabad in the past year when relations between Dhaka and New Delhi turned icy, while India was previously seen as Bangladesh’s closest strategic and economic partner under Hasina's rule.

Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Dhaka in November 2012 to invite Hasina to a summit in Islamabad.

On Sunday, at a foreign minister-level meeting, Bangladesh and Pakistan reiterated their pledges to further strengthen the existing multidimensional and historical bilateral relations based on mutual respect, understanding and cooperation, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said.

During the meeting, the two sides stressed strengthening trade relations and expanding investment, as yearly turnover between the countries is below USD 1 billion, Hossain told the press conference.

The foreign adviser said Bangladesh sought access to Pakistan markets under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in textiles, energy, medicine industry, agriculture, fisheries, livestock and information technology sectors, while Pakistan talked about exporting energy to Bangladesh, the BSS quoted Hossain as saying.

On Saturday, Dar held back-to-back talks with leaders of various political parties of Bangladesh to boost bilateral ties.

Dar met with the leaders of former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the country's largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, at the Pakistan Embassy in Dhaka. He also met with the leaders of the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP).

Abdullah Muhammad Taher, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh’s 1971 independence from Pakistan, and Akhtar Hossain, a senior NCP leader, both said they wanted Pakistan to address the pending 1971 issues for enhancement in bilateral ties.