Old Wounds, New Embrace

Ishaq Dar's recent visit to Dhaka highlights Pakistan's eagerness to woo, but its refusal to apologise fully still divides Bangladesh

- SHANTANU MUKHARJI

Pakistan's Deputy PM and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, just completed his two-day trip to Bangladesh and held a wide range of talks with the interim Dhaka leadership on a variety of areas. However, the high point of the visit was Ishaq Dar's assertion that Pakistan had already apologised twice for the genocide in Bangladesh in the run-up to their liberation in 1971 — once, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto paid a visit to Dhaka in 1974, and later, when President Pervez Musharraf made a subsequent visit (2002).

This issue came up time and again when the Bangladesh side consistently pressed for a formal apology from Pakistan for the excesses perpetrated, which Pakistan has evaded to date. Ishaq Dar's feeble and unconvincing response was to that touchy point.

On his part, Dar didn't seem to relent and diplomatically avoided the sensitive issue by being conspicuously elusive. While prior to his departure for Islamabad, the Pakistani Foreign Minister described the visit as highly productive, the liberals and secular forces in Dhaka have expressed their frustration and ire over Pakistan's refusal or reluctance to tender any apology.

Crucially, this has further polarised the social fabric in Bangladesh, with the pro-freedom segments becoming more vociferous in reiterating their demand for a formal apology, with the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) passing a resolution challenging the Pakistani audacity, claiming that the apology issue was already resolved twice and now stands settled, leaving no scope for any fresh apology.

Sensitive Bangladeshis also appear to be upset that on the Bangladesh soil, Dar had the gumption of making such an insensitive statement.