Bangladesh seeks apology from Pakistan for 1971 atrocities, wants Islamabad to pay $4.3 bn unpaid dues

Bangladesh raised “historically unresolved issues” and sought a public apology from Pakistan over the 1971 atrocities as the two countries held their first foreign secretary-level talks in 15 years on Thursday. Dhaka also asked Pakistan to pay USD 4.3 billion as its share from the combined assets at the time when East Pakistan split from Pakistan in 1971 to form an independent Bangladesh.

“We have raised the historically unresolved issues with Pakistan,” Bangladesh foreign secretary Jashim Uddin told reporters after the Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) with his visiting Pakistani counterpart Amna Baloch.

Israt Jahan, Director General of South Asia Wing at Bangladesh Foreign Ministry, received Baloch at the airport. "With Pakistan, our relationship was, in a way, frozen for a long time. Right now we are trying to have a normal conversation and relationship with Pakistan based on our own interests", Md Jashim Uddin, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary, told ANI.

"Just to contextualise, we are going to have the next round of foreign office consultations in April (Thursday) and the last round was held in 2004, more than two decades ago", he added.

"What we do with Pakistan is what we do with any country in our bilateral relationship, and it shouldn't cause concern for anyone because our aim is to be mutually beneficial, not at the expense of our relationship with any other country", Uddin said.

The visit of the Pakistani foreign secretary is considered significant ahead of the upcoming visit of the country's foreign minister to Bangladesh. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is likely to arrive in Bangladesh later this month. "The upcoming visit is very important because Ishaq Dar is also the Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan and is a very close aide to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Several agreements and MOUs will be signed between Pakistan and Bangladesh during his visit", a senior Pakistani official told ANI without elaborating. A Pakistan trade delegation is also expected to be accompanied by the Foreign Minister.