Pak will not apologise to Bangladesh: Qureshi

Pakistan on Friday rejected the suggestion that the country appologise to Bangladesh for the "attrocities" its forces committed in 1970s on the people of the then East Pakistan, saying the episode was now history.

Asked by a correspondent whether Islamabad would consider offering an appology for what its forces did before Bangladesh became independent, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while that was "part of history", the two countries shared good relations today.

Today Pakistan enjoys "excellent relations" with Bangladesh, he said, adding that a Bangladeshi delegation that had come to Islamabad had expressed sentiments "way different" to the sentiments of 1970s.

"We have a good working relationship. We are cooperating on number of bilateral forums. We see eye to eye on a number of issues. We have good bilateral understanding. We have desire to improve our people-to-people contacts," Qureshi added.

Bangladesh declared itself an independent country in 1971 following a movement against alleged attrocities by Pakistani forces, twenty five years after the partiton of the Indian subcontinent.