ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday strongly condemned the hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman in Bangladesh, dubbing executions of political opponents a blatant violation of human rights.
The adviser reminded the government of Bangladesh that these actions were also a violation of an agreement signed in 1974 and hence opponents were being targeted. “But Bangladesh is rubbing salt into the 45-year-old wounds by hanging opponents,” he regretted.
Responding to the informal discussion in the House on the incidents of hanging to death of aged leaders of JI, Bangladesh, Aziz asserted such actions of the Bangladesh government were not in favour of their masses and were unacceptable to the Muslim Ummah and the world community.
Senators belonging to the treasury benches alleged that Dhaka was punishing opposition leaders for being pro-Pakistani and supporting the Pakistan Army in 1971. They also charged that BD Premier Hasina Wajid was an Indian agent and was resorting to such actions to please it. Before the discussion, the joint opposition had left the House against the prime minister’s inability to explain his position on the PanamaLeaks in the Senate as its boycott of the House entered the fifth day on Friday.
Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said that it should also be remembered with regard to the circumstances, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, as to how the ‘ashraafia’ (aristocracy) had trampled the democratic values and triggered the linguistic issue.
Aziz pointed out that these actions by Bangladesh had evoked condemnation at the global level: the United Nations Secretary General, the Human Rights Watch, European Union, the European Parliament had condemned these executions and even the United States and Britain had also called for transparent and fair trials.
On its part, Pakistan had issued a condemnation statement immediately after the hanging of JI leader and summoned the Bangladesh ambassador to register a protest and a copy of resolution of the National Assembly was also handed over to him and told about the resolutions, adopted by Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies against the execution.
He pointed out that in about three years, cases were filed against 12 elders in Bangladesh, of these five had been executed, four were under trial, two of them had died and one had been given life imprisonment.
About the speeches delivered in the House, he said these had reflected the sentiments of masses. He added Pakistan wanted good relations with Bangladesh but such actions were a big hurdle even in people-to-people contacts, saying majority of Bangladeshis still wanted closer relations with Pakistanis.
He said keeping in view the voices raised in the Senate, a broad line of action was being framed to highlight the human rights aspect of the matter and the judicial process. He noted how through a constitutional amendment, the judicial process was changed and now a judge could be fired on the basis of incompetence and being non-functional.
Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq said it was so tragic that supporters of Pakistan were awarded death sentences and called this a continuation of judicial murders.He claimed a vast majority in erstwhile East Pakistan never wanted separation from
Pakistan and even today, majority wanted closer relations with Islamabad.
Raja Zafar called for giving a message to Bangladesh, asking for good relations instead of poisoning the minds of young generation. He praised Turkey for the withdrawal of its ambassador from Dhaka to protest the hanging of JI leader. The veteran senator advocated a strategy to halting such cruelty and barbarism in Bangladesh against political opponents.
“Even today, majority in Bangladesh is in favour of Pakistan and only a regime, an agent of India, can be against us, “said Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan of PML-N.He contended that pro-Pakistan leaders were justified in siding with Pakistan and the Pakistan Army when India pushed inside its forces and some locals supported them.
The senator lamented that the boycott of elections by Khalida Zia had brought Hasina Wajid to power, who had blood in her eyes and she would go away from the cricket stadium instead of distributing prices if in a Pakistan-BD match, Pak team would win.
Advocating stepping up efforts at diplomatic level, Senator Abdul Qayyum ofthe PML-N said that Indian agents had supported the separatist Mukti Bahni movement and those who remained loyal to Pakistan were now being executed through kangroo courts. He charged Hasina Wajid was part of a gang that had contributed to the fall of Dhaka.
Muhammad Hamza, who once was a member of a united Pakistan parliament, wanted Pakistan to agitate more and wished had he been there, he would have played the role Motiur Rehman had played in 1971.
PML-N’s Nihal Hashmi said that the JI leader had remained minister from 2000 to 2006 in Bangladesh and it was a turning point when Hasina Wajid set up a tribunal in 2010 to target only those who believed in two-nation theory and supported Pakistan when India had sent its forces in then East Pakistan.
He regretted that the reaction in Pakistan against the hanging of JI leaders in Bangladesh was lukewarm and said as if they were not a living nation.