Bangladesh summons Pakistani envoy over execution remark

Bangladesh yesterday summoned the acting Pakistani High Commissioner to lodge a formal protest after Pakistan issued a statement condemning the execution of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.
Acting Pakistani High Commissioner Samina Mehtab was summoned to lodge a formal protest against a statement issued by the Pakistan foreign ministry, the Daily Star
reported.
In a statement issued late on Saturday, after the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali, the Pakistan foreign ministry said the act of suppressing the opposition through “flawed trials” was completely against the spirit of democracy.
“Ever since the beginning of the trials, several international organisations, human rights groups, and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency, as well as harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused,” the statement said.
It said, “The government of Bangladesh should uphold its commitment, as per the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, wherein it decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency.”
“Pakistan believes that such matters should be addressed with a forward looking approach in the noble spirit of reconciliation,” it said.
Pakistan had earlier issued similar statements after the execution of war criminals to which Bangladesh had reacted by summoning the High
Commissioner to the foreign office.
Bangladesh has also asserted that Pakistan continues to present “a misleading, limited and partial interpretation” of the Tripartite Agreement of April 1974, reported bdnews24.
Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami also reacted to the execution and cautioned that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will meet a similar fate.
In a Facebook post in Urdu language, the party of which Bangladesh Jamaat is an offshoot said they would hold a funeral prayer in absentia for Mir Quasem.
Quasem was hanged at 10.30pm (local time in Bangladesh) at the Kashimpur Jail on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Mir Quasem, the main financier of Jamaat-e-Islami, who was hanged on Saturday night for the crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, was buried at Chala village of Manikganj district early yesterday despite a threat by a
pro-liberation group not to
allow his burial.
Mir Quasem was buried at a lemon orchard at his native home at around 3.40am.
Earlier, the body was handed over to Quasem’s wife Khandaker Ayesha Khatun in presence of additional police superintendent Jakir Hossain and executive magistrate Iqbal Pathan around at 3am, said Manikganj superintendent of police Mahfuzur Rahman.
Law enforcers barred general people’s presence within 3km of the burial venue.
After over four years of trial, the 63-year-old Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami central leader was executed in Kashimpur Central Jail at 10:30pm on Saturday.
With the latest execution, six war criminals have so far been executed, while two others - Jamaat leader Ghulam Azam and BNP leader Abdul Alim who had been sentenced to imprisonment unto death – died in jail.
Prior to the execution, Quasem’s wife Khondokar Ayesha Khatun after meeting her husband for the final time on Saturday, told reporters that “those responsible for impending death of my husband will not win.”