Islamabad (November 2, 2017): The Foreign Office summoned the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Islamabad on Thursday to register protest against “the use of undiplomatic language” by Dhaka following a video controversy.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry had registered a protest with Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka against a video posted on the Pakistan High Commission’s webpage, saying that it reportedly “distorted historical facts” about Bangladesh’s independence.
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“In order to register our protest on the use of undiplomatic language in a note verbal, on an incident of obscure origin, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Islamabad was summoned by the director general South Asia and Saarc to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (Thursday),” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
The director general South Asia and Saarc, Dr Faisal Hashmi, conveyed to the commissioner that “sharing of a video by a third party cannot be attributed to Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka”.
It was also conveyed to Dhaka through the high commissioner that “Pakistan has been pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly and cordial ties with Bangladesh”.
“Pakistan desires to move forward in accordance with the Tripartite Agreement of 1974 wherein the prime minister of Bangladesh desired that the people of Bangladesh should forget the past and make a fresh start,” read the Foreign Office statement.
Relations between Islamabad and Dhaka have been deteriorating since 2009 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government resumed the trial of 1971 ‘war crimes’ that had been suspended after a 1974 tripartite ‘clemency’ accord between Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.
