1971 issues with Bangladesh ‘resolved twice’, says Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that unresolved issues between Bangladesh and Pakistan stemming from the 1971 Liberation War have already been “resolved twice.”

Speaking to journalists on Sunday morning at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka, Dar referred to a 1974 tripartite agreement and former president Pervez Musharraf’s expression of regret during his 2002 visit as the points at which the matter was settled.

“Islam teaches us to clear our hearts. You should clear your hearts. We must move forward,” Dar told reporters when asked about demands for Pakistan’s acknowledgement of atrocities during the war.

Earlier in the day, Dar held a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain.

The one-on-one session was followed by delegation-level talks, which culminated in the signing of six agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two countries.

The accords include a visa waiver for holders of official and diplomatic passports, the formation of a joint working group on trade, cultural exchange programmes, cooperation between the foreign service academies of both nations, collaboration between their respective state news agencies, and a partnership between the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Pakistan’s Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Dar arrived in Dhaka on Saturday aboard a special flight and was received at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by Asad Alam Siam, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the first day of his visit, he met leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Nationalist Democratic Movement (NCP), and later attended a reception at Pakistan House. He is scheduled to meet Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser, Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus, on Sunday.