Bangladesh summons Pakistan envoy Shuja Alam over executions remarks

DHAKA: Bangladesh today summoned Pakistan's envoy to protest Islamabad's "unacceptable" remarks over the executions of two top opposition leaders for war crimes during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

"We have summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Shuja Alam today and protested in strongest words," acting Foreign Secretary Mizanur Rahman said.

"You have seen the Pakistani statement which is entirely unacceptable," Rahman said after the meeting.

He said the envoy was served the summon immediately after the Pakistan Foreign Ministry issued a statement, voicing "deep concern and anguish" over the execution of Jamaat-e- Islami Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, 67, and key-opposition BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, 66.

Several senior ministers of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government, politicians and 1971 veterans expressed their anguish over Pakistan's comments.

"Pakistan showed audacity just as convicts like Salauddin Quader Chowdhury did until their deaths," said Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon said in a statement.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told newsmen that Pakistan "has no right to make any comments about internal issues of Bangladesh".

This was the third occasion when Bangladesh summoned Pakistani envoy after it initiated a belted process in 2010 to expose to justice the 1971 war criminals.

Bangladesh in the past several decades repeatedly demanded an apology from Pakistan for the atrocities carried out by the Pakistani troops in 1971.

Officially three million people were killed during the nine-month long war against Pakistan.