DHAKA, Sept 12: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri echoed President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday as he regretted the atrocities Pakistani soldiers had committed during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.

“I support whatever my president says about the issue,” Mr Kasuri said after meeting Awami League President Sheikh Hasina at her Sudha Sadan residence in Dhaka on Friday morning.

The Pakistani foreign minister told reporters that he had a “fruitful discussion with the leader of the opposition.”

Later, Sheikh Hasina’s political adviser, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, told newsmen that all issues related to bilateral relations between the two countries had come up for discussion at the meeting.

Bangladesh’s claim for asset to Pakistan was not discussed, he added.

Saber Chowdhury insisted that the meeting did not mark a shift in AL policy on meeting Pakistani leaders. The party had avoided a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf when he visited Bangladesh last year.

“It is not a policy shift in today’s context,” he said. “We think we should exchange views towards improvement in bilateral relations.”

Mr Kasuri left for Kathmandu on Friday afternoon.

The Pakistan foreign minister arrived last Wednesday as a special envoy of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to formally invite Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to the Saarc summit in Islamabad.

The 12th conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is scheduled to be held on January 4-6.

During his three-day visit, he called on Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and handed over the invitation letter from Mr Jamali.