Bangladesh is seeking an apology for the genocide Pakistan had committed in 1971 and Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that Pakistan should be ashamed for its actions
Replying to the reporter at Foreign Service Academy on Saturday, Momen said, “It’s unfortunate. We always say that Pakistanis should be ashamed. Pakistani military at that time committed heinous crimes and genocide. Even reports from the Pakistan government also said they resorted to excessive torture and violated human rights,” according to Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo.
“Even reports from Pakistan government also said they resorted to excessive torture and violated human rights,” he added.
Momen further added that the Pakistan government should punish those people who took part in the genocide and seek an apology from Bangladesh.
“I believe, the younger generation of Pakistan would come forward to seek an apology. Such wrongdoings can recur if Pakistan cannot understand (the importance of seeking apology),” Momen was saying as quoted by Prothom Alo.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) has urged the US and the international community to recognize the 1971 genocide of Bangladeshis by Pakistan.
According to the HRCBM 195 current and former members of the Pakistan Army, were recorded as being responsible for the genocide and it called for immediate steps to bring to trial.
It all started when the Muslim leaders of West Pakistan refused to allow Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who had won the election because he was a Bengali. So on March 25, 1971, Pakistan Army launched ‘Operation Searchlight’ which is one of the most brutal military actions since the 1937 Nanking Massacre and mass rape conducted by the Japanese military.
West Pakistan under the leadership of Yayha Khan planned military operations brutally hundreds of hundreds of thousands of erstwhile East Pakistan and created a record of being one of the worst mass atrocities in history.
It is estimated more than two hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand women were raped, 3.5 million people were killed, and created a refugee crisis of 10 million people who had crossed over to India.
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