While speaking at the closing session of the two-day international peace conference that ended in Dhaka on Sunday (December 5, 2021), Hossain Haqqani, a former Pakistani diplomat assigned to the United States, expressed the opinion that 'Pakistan should formally apologize to Bangladesh for the 71-year massacre'.
He said, 'Many like me in Pakistan feel that Pakistan should formally apologize for imposing the tragedy on Bangladesh in 1971. I think, if Bangabandhu was alive, he would have supported this idea. All those who believe in collective forgiveness to heal past wounds and misdeeds will support it'.
Reminiscing about Bangabandhu, Hossain Haqqani said, 'I saw Bangabandhu for the first time at the age of 14. He went to Pakistan to campaign for the national elections in 1970. Bangabandhu called on everyone to demand justice, rights, democracy and justice for the people of West Pakistan and the then East Pakistan in the Karachi National Park rally. Bengali nationalism and Bangabandhu are synonymous. Like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, he also spent a fifth of his life in prison. He is called the best Bengali of all time. I think he is the best political leader in South Asia. Pakistanis who believe in secularism consider Bangabandhu the hero of the people of South Asia, not just Bangladesh.
Hossain Haqbani, director of the Washington-based research institute Hudson Center, said, 'Bangladesh's development is through bloody war and genocide. Bangladesh's achievements in the last 50 years are a model for other countries. Today, Bangladesh is ahead in various socio-economic indicators compared to India and Pakistan. What Bangladesh has achieved is after independence. It is a tribute to the sacrifice of Bangabandhu, the father of the nation of Bangladesh.
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