Bangladesh on Saturday reiterated its demand for Pakistan's
apology for its troops' genocides during 1971 Liberation War as Islamabad
dismissed Dhaka's fresh insistence on saying sorry for the atrocities.
"There is no need for back and forth allegations or exchange of
statements, we have not changed our position," Foreign Secretary Mohammad
Touhid Hossain told the news agency yesterday.
The comments of the top foreign ministry bureaucrat came
two days after Pakistan's foreign office declined to apologize for the
atrocities saying the issue was settled under a tripartite agreement between
the two countries and India in 1974. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni earlier this
week had asked Islamabad to apologize for its 1971 atrocities as Pakistani High
Commissioner in Dhaka Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar called on her at her office.
Moni also said that Pakistan should settle the lingering disputes between the
two countries over sharing of resources and take back millions of Pakistanis
stranded in this country, 38 years after the war.
Commenting on the demand a day after the foreign minister's meeting with the Islamabad's high commissioner, Pakistani foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said the issue was addressed and settled under a tripartite agreement signed by Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in April 1974 and urged Dhaka to "let bygones be bygones".
Foreign ministry officials said Dipu Moni, now in Myanmar,
was expected to brief the media on the issue on her return from Yangon later
this week.
Dhaka has long been demanding a formal Pakistani apology for the atrocities
carried out by the occupation troops in 1971, but Islamabad was yet to respond
to the call.