The Foreign Office summoned the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Islamabad on Thursday to register its protest against "the use of undiplomatic language" by Dhaka following a video controversy.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh's foreign ministry had registered a protest with Pakistan's High Commissioner in Dhaka against a video posted on the Pakistan High Commission's webpage, saying that it reportedly "distorted historical facts" about Bangladesh's independence.
"In order to register our protest on the use of undiplomatic language in a note verbale, on an incident of obscure origin, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Islamabad was summoned by the director general South Asia and Saarc to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (Thursday)," read a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
The director general South Asia and Saarc, Dr Faisal Hashmi, conveyed to the commissioner that "sharing of a video by a third party cannot be attributed to the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka".
It was also conveyed to Dhaka through the high commissioner that "Pakistan has been pursuing a policy of maintaining friendly and cordial ties with Bangladesh".
"Pakistan desires to move forward in accordance with the Tripartite Agreement of 1974 wherein the prime minister of Bangladesh desired that the people of Bangladesh should forget the past and make a fresh start,” read the Foreign Office statement.
The video posted on the High Commission's website stated that Bangladesh's first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, had desired self-rule for Bangladesh, not independence, BBC Urdu reported, quoting a statement issued by the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
"To state that Sheikh Mujib did not desire independence is an attempt to distort historical facts," said the BBC Urdu article, quoting the official statement issued by Dhaka.
"This is a deliberate misuse of social media by the High Commission," read the statement. "This is a violation of diplomatic norms. This kind of propaganda will cause harm to mutual cooperation [between Pakistan and Bangladesh]."
Relations between Islamabad and Dhaka have been deteriorating since 2009, when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government resumed the trial of 1971 ‘war crimes’ that had been suspended after a 1974 tripartite ‘clemency’ accord between Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.
