ঢাকা, ডিসেম্বর ১৪ (বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকম)- মুক্তিযুদ্ধকালে গণহত্যার জন্য পাকিস্তানকে অবশ্যই ক্ষমা চাওয়া উচিত বলে মনে করেন মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময় বাংলাদেশের পাশে দাঁড়ানো পাকিস্তানি বংশোদ্ভুত সুইডিস নাগরিক সাইয়্যেদ আসিফ শাহকার।
শুক্রবার সন্ধ্যায় রাজধানীর একটি হোটেলে তিনি বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, “আমিও তাদের ক্ষমা চাওয়ার পক্ষে। কারণ তাদের কর্মকাণ্ড ছিল ভয়ানক। আমি যখন পাকিস্তানে যাব, সেখানকার পত্রপত্রিকা এবং টিভিগুলোর কাছে আমি বলব পাকিস্তানের অবশ্যই ক্ষমা চাওয়া উচিত।”
সুইডেনের বিচারক শাহকার ১৯৭১ সালে পাকিস্তানের পাঞ্জাব ইউনিভার্সিটিতে ন্যাপ ছাত্রনেতা ছিলেন। বাংলাদেশে পাকিস্তানি সেনাবাহিনীর গণহত্যার বিরুদ্ধে বিক্ষোভের আয়োজন করেছিলেন সেই ছাত্রনেতা।
মুক্তিযুদ্ধে বাংলাদেশের পক্ষে অবদানের স্বীকৃতি স্বরূপ সরকারের …

11th November, 2012
IT is a welcome sign that, despite the deep grudge many in Bangladesh still bear against the West Pakistani military action of 1971, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reportedly accepted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s invitation to attend the D-8 summit in Islamabad this month. Dhaka would like a proper apology from the Pakistani government for the large-scale killing of Bengalis. It was not satisfied with then president Gen (retd) Musharraf’s expression of “regret” in 2002. According to the Bangladesh foreign secretary, “some unresolved issues” still exist …

Dhaka seeks Pak apology for 1971 genocide; Hina for moving ahead turning back to the past

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban yesterday to deliver the Pakistan president’s invitation to Hasina for the upcoming D-8 summit in Islamabad. Photo: BSS
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to pay a three-day official visit to Pakistan to attend the D-8 summit in Islamabad scheduled for November 22.
Hasina goes to Pakistan against the background of her government asking Islamabad to settle all pending post-independence issues. …

11.03.2012

Cassidy Senior Advisor and former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani answers why the United States needs Muslim allies in an editorial in The Washington Post .
American foreign policy is not making enough of an effort to contain Islamist extremism, and the consequences are likely to roil not only Afghanistan and Pakistan but, eventually, the wider region and beyond.
Using drones to find and kill al-Qaeda leaders already known to U.S. intelligence will not end the war, either. Eventually, the United States will have to find Muslim allies who help …

Published: November 2, 2012

Husain Haqqani was Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011. He is a professor of international relations at Boston University and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

American foreign policy is not making enough of an effort to contain Islamist extremism, and the consequences are likely to roil not only Afghanistan and Pakistan but, eventually, the wider region and beyond.
In 1998, Osama bin Laden described U.S. soldiers as “paper tigers” and predicted that U.S. aversion to war would lead to the success of his ideology. …

Ikram Sehgal’s book Escape from Oblivion is a gripping narrative about his experiences during a time of great tribulation that followed the Pakistan Army’s crackdown on the rebellious elements in East Pakistan on March 25, 1971. It has been reported on, reviewed and written about fairly extensively. But when subjected to a critical analysis, it was found that the narrative suffers from contradictions and an inadequate explanation of events, especially those that took place after his arrival in Dhaka from West Pakistan up until his imprisonment. The comments that follow are, …

Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Ishrat Hyatt

Islamabad

After a brief illness, Chief of the Chakma tribe and citizen par excellence of Pakistan Raja Tridiv Roy passed away on Monday morning. While many friends will mourn his passing, the ambassador of Argentina, Rodolfo Martin-Saravia has also paid tribute to his friend.
“It is with great sorrow that I write these lines in memory of Raja Tridiv Roy, Pakistan’s longest serving ambassador in Argentina (1981 to 1995) but more importantly a true gentleman and friend. He was …

SPEAKERS of a seminar cautioned Pakistani politicians, intellectuals and media against the sham trials by Dhaka rulers of those patriotic people who opposed Delhi orchestrated secession of East Pakistan in 1971 and rendered sacrifices for keeping Pakistan united.
If those aged and handicapped leaders had been punished by the so-called international war crimes tribunal of Hasina government as ‘agents of Pakistan’ who abetted the so-called war crimes by Pakistan army, it would have automatically built an international case against Pakistan, the speakers warned while addressing a seminar titled “Objectives of Indian …

KARACHI, April 18: Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.
This was the gist of the speeches delivered by eminent speakers at the launch of the Pakistan chapter of the Forum of Secular Bangladesh and Trial of War Criminals of 1971 at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday.
Prior to the launch, a documentary Portraits of Jihad directed by distinguished Bangladeshi filmmaker Shahriar Kabir was screened. The subject of the film was the spread of religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh. It gave a detailed …

THE dates are muddled and my memories of the place are at times vague and confused, but a lifetime ago, my family and I lived in East Pakistan. I went to school there, learned about life from wise teachers, made wonderful friends and wallowed in the languid beauty of a truly golden land.
It was a privileged existence. We were in Dhaka for about three to four years and I loved every minute of it. I delighted in the magic of the city, the mysterious …

Both Jamat-e-Islami and Pakistan’s deep state were looking for a charismatic character, who had a glitz of the Western culture and a mindset of an Islamist. One senior memeber of Jamat-e-Islami, namely Hafeea ullah Niazi effectively solved this problem by finding the right person for this job. He happened to be the brother-in-law of Cricket’s super star, male sex symbol and Casanova of International repute, Imran Khan.
The Jamaat Islami (JI) won Pakistan state’s patronage to be given a role in home politics for the first …

Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, represents California’s 46th District in the U.S. House.
There has been quite a stir since I introduced a resolution this year calling for recognition of the right to self-determination by the people of Baluchistan. I drafted the measure after a Feb. 8 hearing by the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations that exposed horrific violations of human rights by Pakistan security forces in Baluchistan. The U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and other human rights groups have verified and denounced …