Strongly condemn Pak`s resolution on Mollah: Hasina

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today slammed Pakistan as anger mounted over a Pak parliamentary resolution condemning execution of Jamaat-e- Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for crimes against humanity in 1971.

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday slammed Pakistan as anger mounted over a Pak parliamentary resolution condemning execution of Jamaat-e- Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for crimes against humanity in 1971.

"By passing the resolution at National Assembly, Pakistan has proved that it never accepted the victory of Bangladesh in the Liberation War of 1971... I strongly condemn the resolution," Hasina told a meeting of her Awami League-led ruling alliance. She added that the 1971 collaborator of Pakistan saying they "will not get any shelter on Bangladesh`s soil" and reiterated that her government would continue to execute the court verdicts against the Bengali-speaking associates of Pak troops during the Liberation War. Her comments came hours after hundreds of youngsters and 1971 veterans marched towards the Pakistan High Commission and issued a 20-hour ultimatum to severe diplomatic ties with Islamabad. The protesters carrying the banner of `Ganajagaran Mancha` or "the stage of mass upsurge" staged a sit-in near the chancery after they failed to siege the Pakistani High Commission as police stopped them. The protesters scuffled with riot police as they erected barricades and used batons to halt the marches before they could enter the diplomatic zone but several hundreds of the youngsters and veterans managed to reach near the chancery. "If the government does not cut off its diplomatic ties with Pakistan by this time, we will again take out a procession and lay siege to the Pakistan embassy at 3pm on Thursday," spokesman of the youngsters Imran H Sarkar said. Meanwhile, Awami League`s international sub-committee in a meeting, also took a decision to urge the government to curtail the relations with Pakistan protesting against their parliamentary resolution. "We will notify our Foreign Ministry to consider the decision to curtail diplomatic ties with Pakistan. Then government will take decision," the sub-committee chairman and former diplomat Muhammad Jamir told newsmen after the meeting. The developments came a day after Bangladesh summoned the Pakistani envoy Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi and conveyed to him Dhaka`s strong resentment over the resolution. The strong-worded resolution, moved by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan member Sher Akbar Khan, was adopted with a majority vote on Monday. Mollah was executed on Thursday for genocide during the 1971 war against Pakistan, hours after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition.