Pak Govt. draws flak for inaction to stop persecution in B'desh

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq has criticized the Pakistan Government for its failure and silence over extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh on the pretext of so-called war crimes.

Speaking at a protest rally here yesterday, he urged the international community to play its due role in stopping the Bangladesh Government from politically victimising and persecuting the opposition leaders.

The protesters were seen carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against 'injustices' of the Bangladesh Government.

The Jamaat-i-Islami chief asserted that Dhaka was executing its political rivals through a controversial tribunal.

He also claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Government was betraying those who supported the then united Pakistan.

Expressing grief over the government's behavior, Sirajul said his party leaders have approached several government high-ups to discuss the issue, but none were ready to take any step in this regard.

He said that his party had also contacted several diplomatic missions for the release of political prisoners in Bangladesh, but all were of the view that nothing could be done without the active role of the Pakistani Government as it was also a part of the pact in 1971 under which it was decided that no cases would be filed against anyone.

The Jamaat-i-Islami chief expressed that it was a matter of great shame for the nation that even the elected government "did not dare" to take up the issue.

His remarks come in the wake of condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami's dismissal of review petition by Bangladesh's Supreme Court.