[Sohel]

Originally Posted by shuziburo
Although I would like the first 4, first 2 are a must. They cannot go on behaving like nothing has happened. Parvez Mosharrof apologized, but I am not sure whether I would consider that a formal apology.

If Hina Rabbani's best is to forgive and forget, it has to be preceded by proper acknowledgment and apology. If not, she can go home.

During his July, 2002 visit to Bangladesh, Parvez Musharraf expressed "regret for the excesses" of 1971. According to the official Pakistani narrative, shared by the Razakar community and quite a few of their children I might add, those "excesses" come down to about 22,000 civilian casualties. Musharraf neither acknowledged any detail nor actually apologized, and much like (the considerably hotter) Hina Rabbani Khar, wanted to "bury the past" and avoid moral and judicial accountability of the Pakistani military, the PPP, the Muslim League, Jamaat and their supporters in the process.

His statements:

On his arrival in Dhaka on July 29, Musharraf first visited the national memorial at Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, to pay homage to the country's liberation war heroes. He wrote in the visitors' book at the memorial: "I bring sincere greetings and good wishes from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for their Bangladeshi brethren and sisters. We wish this land and its people peace, progress and prosperity." The Pakistani leader continued: "Your brothers and sisters in Pakistan share the pain of the events of 1971. The excesses during that unfortunate period are regrettable. Let us bury the past in a spirit of magnanimity. Let not the light of the future be dimmed. Let us move forward together. I am confident that with our joint resolve Pakistan-Bangladesh friendship will flourish in the years to come."

And then:

In his banquet address the next day, he said: "My brothers and sisters in Pakistan share with their fellow brothers and sisters in Bangladesh profound grief over the parameters of the events of 1971. As a result of this tragedy a family having common religious and cultural heritage and united by a joint struggle for independence and a shared vision of the future, was torn apart. We feel sorry for this tragedy, and the pain it caused to both our peoples."

That kind of generalization while lamenting the "family" breaking apart may be good enough for some to call an "apology", especially Pakistanis and their Bangalistani allies eager to sidestep the facts and avoid responsibility, but not for some others such as myself. I agree with reporter Haroon Habib when he writes:

BUT will this apology really do? Has the Pakistani leader honoured history through his statement? Did he really pay respects to those who fell prey to the excesses of the Pakistani forces? Several Bangladeshi dailies ran editorials praising Musharraf for expressing his 'regrets' and 'sorrow', and characterised his words either as a "good gesture" or a "good beginning". But some other dailies in their editorial comments and articles termed Musharraf's apology a "cosmetic" one and "a cunning effort to sidetrack the historic crime against humanity". This section felt that Musharraf's words indicated no change in the old Pakistani mindset although it sounded deceptively so in the changed environment.

Anyway, here's the original FRONTLINE REPORT.