ISLAMABAD: Chairman of National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Awais Leghari denounced on Monday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement about India’s role in the separation of Bangladesh as “irresponsible and provocative”.

Mr Leghari said that Mr Modi’s statement was tantamount to “a confession from the State of India that it believes and has been pursuing a policy of breaking up countries in the past and persists to do so till date.”

Mr Modi, while receiving a ‘liberation war honour’ on behalf of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his visit to Bangladesh, said he had been one of the many activists who reached Delhi in response to Vajpayee’s call for “Satyagraha” for the “liberation of Bangladesh in 1971”.

The Indian premier said that like millions of other Indians he wanted this vision (separation of East Pakistan) realised.

The award citation mentioned Vajpayee’s “active role” in the creation of Bangladesh. He also criticised world’s silence on Mr Modi’s admission that India had orchestrated the break-up of Pakistan. “The international community’s bias is clearly visible in the fact that no one takes notice of whatever India does including its serious human rights violations at home and involvement in the Balochistan insurgency.”

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2015

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