Pakistan summons Bangladeshi envoy in tit-for-tat move

Pakistan on Thursday summoned the Bangladeshi envoy to Islamabad and lodged a protest over the alleged use of undiplomatic language in a note handed over to Pakistani envoy to Dhaka.

The tit-for-tat response comes after the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Pakistani high commissioner in Dhaka, demanding a formal apology for a Facebook post that allegedly misrepresented the country's 1971 independence war.

Bangladeshi media outlet Daily Star said the Pakistani High Commission had posted a video on its official Facebook page, claiming the late Bangladeshi politician, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, did not want independence for Bangladesh and supposedly sought autonomy while former President Gen. Ziaur Rahman proclaimed independence.

In response to the incident, the Foreign Office said the Bangladeshi high commissioner was conveyed that sharing of a video by a third party could not be attributed to the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka.

Pakistan has been pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly and cordial ties with Bangladesh, and desires to move forward in accordance with the Tripartite Agreement of 1974 wherein the prime minister of Bangladesh desired that the people of Bangladesh should "forget the past and make a fresh start", the office said in a statement.

Earlier, the Foreign Office spokesman told a news briefing in Islamabad that the video clip had not been uploaded on ministry's website, but on the High Commission's Facebook page by "someone else".

"The video was immediately deleted, and we have tweeted about it from Spokesperson's official account yesterday.

"We sincerely hope that the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Bangladesh will continue to move in the letter and spirit of the Tripartite Agreement of 1974," Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Faisal said.

About the Bangladeshi government's demand for an apology from Pakistan, Faisal said: "The 1974 Tripatite Agreement between Pakistan, India and Bangladesh is the cornerstone for taking the relations forward between the countries.

"We expect our Bangladeshi brethren to adhere to it."