Pakistan should offer official apology for 1971 genocide; China a development partner: Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: Bangladesh has demanded an official apology from Pakistan for 1971 genocide and described China as a development partner of recent past while heaping praises on “model partnership” with India amid a slew of cross-border connectivity initiatives launched by India this month.

These remarks were made by Bangladesh foreign minister Abdul Momen in an interview with a local TV channel on Sunday night

Speaking to News 24 channel in Dhaka, Momen said that during his meeting with the Pakistan ambassador on July 1, he insisted that if Pakistan wanted better ties with Bangladesh it would need to accept officially the fact that Pakistan had carried out a “genocide”, which is still deeply painful for the Bangladeshis.


This comes days after the Bangladesh Prime Minister ignored suggestions on Kashmir when Pakistan PM telephoned her recently.

Referring to China the minister said the country is Bangladesh’s recent development partner but ties with India are “close and historical”. Momen said the trade relationship with India was “so strong that the business between the countries has reached $ nine billion”. Earlier, he said, export from Bangladesh was marginal but it has slowly reached the $1-billion dollar mark and that this would have been a daunting task without support from India.