Bangladesh today summoned the Pakistani envoy here and lodged a strong protest against resolutions adopted by Pakistan expressing concern over the execution of Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah for 1971 war crimes.
"This evening the Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Mr Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi was called... And a strong protest was lodged by the Government of Bangladesh against the resolutions adopted by the Pakistan National Assembly and the Punjab Provincial Assembly and also the remarks made by a senior Cabinet Minister of Pakistan Government on the verdict of the war crimes tribunals in Bangladesh," a Foreign Office statement said.
"The Secretary (Bilateral) Ambassador Mustafa Kamal conveyed (the envoy) in unequivocal terms that the war crimes trial in Bangladesh is an internal matter and as such the uncalled for resolutions on the verdicts of the war crimes trial tantamount to interference in the domestic affairs of Bangladesh," it added.
Mollah was executed on Thursday for genocide during Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war, hours after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition.
The Pakistan National Assembly adopted a resolution, saying, "This House expresses deep concern on hanging of a veteran politician of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh for supporting Pakistan in 1971."
The House expressed grief and sorrow with the bereaved family and demanded to avoid reviving the wounds of 1971 and amicably resolve cases against Bangladeshi leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Shortly before the meeting, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told journalists that the foreign office would protest the Pakistan move and statement of Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who said Mollah "was hanged through a judicial murder for supporting a united Pakistan in 1971".
"The statement of the Pakistan National Assembly shows that the country has not corrected itself and moved away from its 1971 policy," Inu said.
Denouncing the country's stance on the execution of war criminal Mollah, he said that Pakistan has acted beyond the diplomatic norms adopting the resolution.
