|
Pakistani Diplomat's Expulsion Will Not Affect Ties Says Bangladeshi PM
DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on Sunday said she believed the expulsion of a senior Pakistani diplomat would not affect ties with Islamabad.
In her first comments on Friday's incident, the premier told Dhaka's foreign press corps that Deputy High Commissioner Ifran-ur Raja had "made audacious comments that hit at Bangladesh's independence and sovereignty and the action was taken after we waited for his withdrawal."
Dhaka expelled Raja hours after he was declared persona non-grata for remarks he made nearly three weeks ago about Bangladesh's 1971 independence war, which sparked nationwide protests.
The diplomat caused an outcry here when he told a seminar last month that civilian massacres committed during the 1971 war between Bangladesh and Pakistan were provoked by "miscreants" from Bangladesh's current ruling party, and not by the Pakistani army.
"We were under immense pressure to declare him persona non-grata and expel him immediately after he made the comments, but I personally did not want to do so and instead asked Pakistan to withdraw him," Sheikh Hasina said.
"I don't know if it will affect diplomatic ties with Pakistan and I believe it should not," she added.
Asked if she supported the calls of some of her party members to boycott Pakistani goods, she said: "I don't think the relations between the two countries have reached that stage."
Raja, who was put on a flight to Dubai, was the first senior foreign diplomat Bangladesh has expelled since independence.
Islamabad said the expulsion was "unjustified" and "not keeping with the spirit of friendly relations between the two countries."
Bangladesh, former East Pakistan, won independence after a bitter and bloody war led by the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Dhaka-Islamabad ties have been strained since Sheikh Hasina spoke out against military dictatorships at the United Nations this year and later demanded Pakistan apologize for the alleged 1971 crimes.
The premier also stressed at the briefing that Bangladesh wanted to see peace and stability in South Asia.
The regional tension following the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan "naturally affects" its neighbors, especially their economies, she said.
However she maintained the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) "was there, is there and will live on."
SAARC summits have been frozen for more than a year due to India's refusal to sit at the same table as fellow member Pakistan following their Kashmir border conflict last year in Kargil and the October 1999 military coup in Islamabad.
SAARC, founded in Dhaka in 1985, comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
|
