ISLAMABAD, May 14 The Foreign Office rejected on Thursday Bangladesh's demand for an apology over the alleged 1971 atrocities and urged Dhaka to move ahead with ties, instead of getting “frozen in time”.

“As far as Pakistan is concerned, this matter stands resolved under the April 9, 1974, tripartite agreement,” spokesman Abdul Basit said at a weekly media briefing.

Under the 1974 agreement, Pakistan had regretted the incidents, but did not offer a formal apology. In 2002, the then president Pervez Musharraf had also expressed regrets over the 1971 incidents during his visit to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Alamgir Bashar Khan Babar in Dhaka on Wednesday had said that Pakistan should formally apologise for the Bangladeshis killed in 1971, share assets and repatriate Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh.

The envoy called on the minister to offer condolence over the death of Dr M.A. Wazed Miah, the husband of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Bangladeshi government is reported to have sought UN help for trial of what it calls the 1971 war criminals. Diplomatic sources believe the issue, if not resolved, could lead to a diplomatic row between Islamabad and Dhaka.

The FO spokesman said Pakistan valued its relations with Bangladesh and preferred to move forward. “We have conveyed this to our friends in Bangladesh.”

He said “let bygones be bygones” and expressed the hope that relations would not become hostage to the past.

TRANSIT TRADE About concerns that the MoU signed with Afghanistan for concluding talks on the transit trade would benefit India, Mr Basit said the government was cognisant of the national interest and would safeguard it.

“Pakistan obviously would not agree to any provision or any arrangement that is not in its national interest. We are very cognisant of our interests and we know how to protect them.”

About the issue of Pakistani students facing deportation from the UK despite having been cleared by investigators in the botched Easter bomb plot, the spokesman conceded that there was no mention of the issue in the joint declaration issued after a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but said the two leaders had discussed the matter.

“The issue of detained students was definitely raised. There is a legal course which is also being pursued and we hope that whatever happens would be in accordance with the law.”

In reply to a question about exclusion of India from the mandate of US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, the spokesman said “Instead of dwelling into the details of the mandate of the US special envoy, we are focussing on the content as well as on the actual work which is being done.”

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has expressed concern over the exclusion of India from the envoy's mandate and expressed the hope that the Obama administration will review the matter.