Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday claimed that the unresolved issues of 1971 have been resolved twice – first in 1974 and second in the early 2000s.
He made this claim while talking to the media after a meeting with Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital.
Replying to a query, Dar said, "About the unresolved issues in 1974 -- first time the issue was resolved in writing and the document is historic and available in both countries. After that, General Musharraf came here and in a very open and candid manner, he actually addressed the issue.
"So you see, this has been done actually and the issue was resolved twice. In 1974 and then in early 2000 when General Musharraf visited, he told the entire nation, on behalf of the entire nation of Pakistan to the entire nation of Bangladesh."
Ishaq Dar also expressed a strong commitment to moving forward by forgetting past grievances and to work for the betterment of the people of both countries.
What are the two previous incidents?
In June 1974, then Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto "publicly apologised" for the "shameful repression and unspeakable crimes" committed by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War, when Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan, according to a New York Times report.
He said he had nothing to do with the atrocities, and lay the blame on the "selfish and myopic military regime" headed by Pakistan's former president General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan.
However, it is well known that when the Awami League won the 1970 general election in undivided Pakistan, Bhutto and his Pakistan People's Party refused to cooperate with the party from the east.
It should also be noted that the US and Pakistan were strong allies at the time, and there is strong evidence to suggest US president Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger backed Pakistan's atrocities in Bangladesh.
The second apology was issued in July 2002, as then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf expressed regret for "excesses" committed in the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence, according to a BBC report.
Musharraf met then Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia a day after he expressed regret and signed a series of agreements in a bid to forge closer ties.
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