Pakistani journos welcome war crimes trial, urge Islamabad to seek apology
Pakistanis specially journalists welcomed Bangladesh's initiatives to try 1971 war criminals and urged their government to seek formal apology for their misdeeds.
Three Pakistani journalists and an NGO activist hold the same opinion in exclusive interviews with the news agency on the sidelines of an international conference held in Sri Lanka recently.
“We still feel sorry for the misdeeds of Pakistani forces in 1971,” said Saleem Saikh, a senior journalist of widely circulated newspaper Dawn.
He said a formal apology by the Pakistan government for misdeeds in 1971 could smoothen the way for promoting friendly relations between the two countries.
Echoing the same, journalist Amar Guriro of Pakistan Today said, “The Pakistan government should hold a symbolic trial of the members of Pakistani troops, who are still alive, as they did crimes against humanity in 1971.”
“There is still scope to try the Pakistani soldiers, who committed crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 as the war criminals of the Second World War are now facing trial for their wrongdoings even after 62 years,” he opined.
Terming the inhuman activities of their troops in 1971 as a "black chapter" in Pakistan's history, Ramzan Chandio, a journalist of The Nation, urged their government to move a bill in the national assembly seeking formal apology for the misdeeds in Bangladesh in 1971.
He was taken aback thinking how the Pakistani troops carried out a massacre in such a large scale on their brothers and the perpetrators go unpunished.
Sumaira Gul, Programme Manager of a Rawalpindi based NGO and General Secretary of Pakistan Peoples' Party, Rawalpindi City Unit, said “The Pakistani troops had launched propaganda that the war (in 1971) took place between Pakistan and India to misguide Pakistani common people for gaining support in their favour. But, the people of Pakistan later came to know the truth and stood by Bangladesh.”
“Most of the Pakistanis vehemently opposed the genocide carried out by their troops in the name of Islam,” she said.
She also urged her government to seek formal apology to Bangladesh without further delay for the massacre in 1971.
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