Pak important part of Foreign Policy: Bangladesh Foreign Advisor

Dhaka, May 20 (UNI) The Military-backed Bangladesh caretaker government's Foreign Advisor Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury today said forging good relations with Pakistan is a special segment of the country's foreign policy like that of with India and other neighbours.

At a press briefing on his return from OIC Foreign Ministers' conference in Islamabad, he welcomed Pakistan Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed's remarks that Pakistan should apologize ''for crimes committed against the Bangladeshi brethren'' before and after 1971.

The Advisor said a formal resolution in Pakistan parliament seeking apology would help the two nations move forward.

Another movement is coming up in Pakistan with Senator Mushahid's statement as Pakistani people also want to move forward leaving behind the past, he added.

Last week at Pakistan-Bangladesh media seminar on ''Regional Stability and Cooperation: Challenges and Security,'' organised by Jang Group of Newspapers in Islamabad, Senate Foreign Relation Committee Chairman Mushahid said there was nothing to hide on what happened in 1971.'' ''What Pakistan did against Bangalis in 1971 can be well dubbed as a crime instead of mistakes. The world is changing over. Japan apologised to China. Pakistan should also come up with an apology,'' he added.

Mr Chowdhury, who had a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on the sidlelines of the ICFM meeting, said the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh and settlement of pre-independence assets and liabilities came up for discussion.

Some 2,50,000 stranded Pakistanis who opted for Pakistan have been languishing in camps in a sub-human conditions since Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

He said the Pakistan Foreign Minister is aware of these outstanding problems and has agreed to resolve the issues.

Pakistan's offer to donate wheat worth 10,000 dollars to Bangladesh is under process while Islamabad is planning to import 15,000 tons of tea from Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap, he added.

''Our effort was to establish some linkages with Pakistan and we've been able to do that,'' he said adding that bilateral issues would be settled through discussions to make the economic relation more dynamic.

UNI