Bangladesh summons Pakistan envoy over Mollah resolution

The Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan's high commissioner in Dhaka Tuesday after Pakistan's National Assembly passed a resolution expressing concern over the hanging of Bangladesh war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah.

Pakistan High Commissioner Mian Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi went to the ministry Tuesday evening to meet ministry secretary Mostafa Kamal, reports bdnews24.com.

The Pakistan National Assembly passed the resolution moved by the Jamaat-e-Islami party Monday expressing sympathy for Mollah's family.

The assembly demanded that the Bangladesh government should not resurrect issues of 1971 and end all cases against the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leadership in the spirit of understanding.

"We witnessed the fall of Dhaka 42 years ago and we seem to have not learnt our lesson," said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who earlier protested the hanging of Mollah.

However, some parties in Pakistan opposed the Jamaat-e-Islami's resolution passed with a majority vote in parliament.

Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a nine-month war. The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami with Mollah as its leader had sided with Pakistan during the war.

Mollah was executed Dec 12 for crimes against humanity including mass murder during the war. About three million Bangladeshis were killed in the war.