Pak reluctant to give Bangladesh official apology for 1971 war atrocities

Pakistan is reluctant to extend a formal apology to Bangladesh for the atrocities committed by its troops in East Pakistan during the 1971 war.

Bangladesh's demand for an official apology from Pakistan intensified after the Musharraf regime declassified the Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report in 2000.

According to the News, the report had accused the Pakistani Army led by General Yahya Khan of carrying out senseless and wanton killing of intellectuals, soldiers, civilian officers, businessmen and industrialists.

The report accused the Pakistan Army of raping a large number of Bangladeshi women as a deliberate act of revenge.

The commission report had accused Khan of being a womaniser and an alcoholic besides holding General A A K Niazi for a premature surrender by the Pakistan Army.

Set up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the request of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the commission was headed by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Hamoodur Rehman, as its chairman.

On the basis of the evidence produced during inquiry, the commission had named and blamed certain senior commanders for their failure to discharge their professional duties, the report said.

The commission had further recommended that the Pakistan government constitute a high-powered Court of Inquiry to investigate these allegations and to hold trials of those who indulged in these atrocities.

However, no such Court of Inquiry was ever constituted by any government.