Islamabad today informed Dhaka that Pakistan would not interfere with Bangladesh's move to prosecute war crimes committed during its Liberation War in 1971, a senior minister was quoted by dpa as saying. "Pakistan will not interfere in any internal affairs of Bangladesh," said Shafique Ahmed, Bangladesh's justice minister, after a meeting with Pakistan's High Commissioner in Dhaka, Ashraf Qureshi. "The don't have any objection against a trial of crimes against humanity." Bangladesh split from Pakistan after a nine-month armed struggle in 1971 that had left according to Dhaka's count some three million people dead, 200,000 women violated and numerous homesteads torched. "Pakistan respects the sovereignty of Bangladesh. It is a prerogative of Bangladesh to hold the war crimes trial," Qureshi said, refuting allegations that Pakistan had launched a campaign against the trial. Bangladesh formally initiated the process last month by setting up a tribunal and appointing an investigation agency and a panel of lawyers for the prosecution of Bangladeshi collaborators for committing crimes against humanity that include genocide, arson, rape and looting. -- SPA
