Bangladesh seeks apology from Pakistan over ‘misleading’ FB post 

Dhaka, Nov 1 (IANS) Bangladesh has sought a formal apology from Islamabad over an “ill-motivated and misleading”
social media post by the High Commission of Pakistan here, which claimed that ‘Ziaur Rahman, not Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, announced Bangladesh’s independence’.

Dhaka has called for immediate removal of the video post on the Facebook page maintained by the Pakistan mission, bdnews24 reported.

The 13.45-minute video had initially been posted on the Facebook Page — Pakistan Affairs. 

Bangladesh media outlets reported that the High Commission of Pakistan in Dhaka shared the video on its Facebook page. It was removed from the mission’s Facebook page after it sparked controversy.

Pakistani High Commissioner Rafiuzzaman Siddiqui was summoned by the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday where a strong protest was lodged and a warning issued against the distortion of history.

The envoy met Foreign Secretary (Bilateral and Consular) Kamrul Ahsan on Tuesday.

“We told him that if this continues it will harm the relations between the two countries. History is history. One cannot divert it by spreading propaganda,” Ahsan said.

The Pakistan envoy apologised, saying the incident was “unintentional” and that they had not “understood the situation”, according to Secretary Ahsan.

The Foreign Ministry later said in a statement that the envoy was warned over “repeated breach of diplomatic norms by Pakistan only stands to harm bilateral relations between the two countries”.

“The government deeply regrets that notwithstanding Bangladesh’s repeated overtures the malicious campaign by Pakistan and its various agencies against Bangladesh has not come to a halt,” it said.

Siddiqui was told that for the sake of adherence to established diplomatic norms; in future, the High Commission of Pakistan in Dhaka as well as the Pakistan authorities would act responsibly and refrain from any such uncalled for and provocative activities against the interest of Bangladesh.

The Pakistan envoy was also told to bring the matter to the notice of appropriate authorities in Pakistan and that Bangladesh seeks a “formal note of apology” over the video post.

The video also also claimed that Bangabandhu had not wanted Bangladesh’s independence and had sought autonomy for the Bengali-majority East Pakistan.

“The Government of Bangladesh strongly rebuts such baseless and unfounded narratives,” the demarche handed to Pakistan read.

Secretary Ahsan described it as an “instance of purposeful abuse of social media by the High Commission of Pakistan in Dhaka”.

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