Daily Times

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s acting high commissioner to protest its interference in its affairs after Islamabad said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by the execution of a top Jamaat-e-Islami figure for alleged atrocities committed during the 1971 conflict. Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed on Saturday at Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of the capital, for murder, confinement, torture and incitement to religious hatred during the war. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it was ‘deeply saddened’ by Ali’s execution, describing the proceedings of the war tribunal as ‘flawed’. Relations between the two countries have never recovered since 1971 when Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, broke away from what was then West Pakistan. “By repeatedly taking the side of those Bangladesh nationals who are convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide, Pakistan has once again acknowledged its direct involvement and complicity with the mass atrocity crimes committed during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971,” Bangladesh said in a statement. “The Government of Bangladesh strongly rejects Pakistan’s claim that these are ‘recriminations for political gains’.”