Pakistanis should urge their government to formally apologise to Bangladesh for all the atrocities that were committed in 1971, a former Pakistani diplomat has said. Hussain Haqqani, the erstwhile Pakistani ambassador to the US and now Director (South & Central Asia) at the Hudson Institute, a US based think tank, said in his tweet: “50 years after Bangladesh independence, Pakistan must acknowledge and apologise for injustices and genocidal violence perpetrated against Bengalis. It will bring closure and will help Pakistan overcome demons of its history.”

"To this day, no apology has been forthcoming…. an apology is the most courteous thing …," Bangladesh paper The Independent said quoting Haqqani, who also addressed a virtual conference titled, ‘‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: An Iconic Leader of People’s Struggle for Freedom’’ organised by the Embassy of Bangladesh to Belgium.

Haqqani’s remarks were perfectly timed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh—an outing where he launched the second phase of special relations between New Delhi and Dhaka.

The former Pakistani diplomat’s advocacy docks with Dhaka’s demand for an apology from Islamabad. Earlier this year, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Shahriar Alam told the High Commissioner of Pakistan Imran Ahmed Siddiqui in Dhaka was seeking an official apology for the genocide committed against people of the country during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

Referring to the general elections of 1970 in the former East Pakistan, Haqqani slammed the Pakistani military’s criminal response by imprisoning Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and unleashing  genocidal war against the local Bengalis.

Comparing Bangabandhu in the same league of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Haqqani said he  is not only the greatest Bengalis of all time, he is also one of the greatest leaders emerging out of South Asia and a great leader in the history of the world. "He is an iconic figure of struggle for freedom that the world has seen throughout the 20th century," Haqqani observed.

Pointing out that the former East Pakistan, which mutated into independent Bangladesh, Haqqani stressed that this was the "Golden Goose" to the Pakistani ruling elites as most of the foreign exchange was earned from the eastern part (Bangladesh). He spotlighted that the "the feudal Pakistan rulers never considered Bengalis as equals and were not ready to hand over power to the elected representatives of then East Pakistan after the electoral victory of Bangabandhu's party the Awami League in the national elections of 1970."

Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have been strained since the 1971 independence war in which around 3 million people lost their lives during Bangladesh's fight for independence.

Is Pakistan now trying to mend fences with Bangladesh? Probably yes, but apparently without tendering an unvarnished to Bangladesh. Unsurprisingly, a fortnight ago, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her country's 50th anniversary of Independence, inviting her to Pakistan for a visit. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina too sent a letter of congratulations to Khan on Pakistan Day (March 23) but legacy of Bangladesh's independence war has tainted relations between the two the two countries. 

While the reconciliation efforts by Pakistan is acknowledged, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has made it plain that Bangladesh expected Islamabad to apologize formally for the genocide committed by its military in 1971 on the occasion of the golden jubilee – the 50th Anniversary of Independence of Bangladesh this year. He emphasised that for any "meaningful strides" to emerge, Pakistan must "acknowledge the violence of 1971 as well as the political, economic and cultural discrimination prior to Bangladesh's birth, "owning up to the past" and issuing a formal apology for war crimes committed in 1971 will allow the two countries.

Bangladesh marks March 25 as Genocide Day to highlight the mass killings that were committed by the Pakistani military 50 years ago, when it launched the infamous 'Operation Searchlight'. 

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been urging the United Nations to officially recognise the mass killings by the Pakistani occupation army during the Liberation War in 1971 as genocide.