It seems Bangladesh and Pakistan after decades of hiatus have made a major step forward treading into a new era of regional cooperation in South Asia, riddled with suspicion, distrust, disrespect, and lack of neighborliness among the eight countries.

When Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh embraced Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with grins on their faces decided to put the bilateral relations at a new height.

The reactivation of SAARC is a top priority for fostering regional cooperation and rebuilding trust among South Asian nations.

Shehbaz Sharif called for a strategic relationship between Dhaka and Islamabad and said “We are really looking forward to strengthening our relationship with our brother-in-country Bangladesh.”

Dr Yunus expressed his keenness to reactivate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as “a top priority.” The moribund eight-nation SAARC (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) was largely stalled due to arguments between Islamabad and New Delhi, French news agency AFP quoted Yunus as telling Shehbaz.

“I am a big fan of the idea of SAARC. I keep harping on the issue. I want a summit of SAARC leaders even if it is only for a photo session because that will carry a strong message,” he said.

The two leaders of Bangladesh and Pakistan are two wings of India and are not physically connected by land, rivers, and blue mountains. Yunus and Sharif met on the sidelines at the D-8 Summit held by developing nations in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

The two leaders expressed the desire to resolve outstanding grievances from the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The month of December is an emotional month for Bangladesh. The marauding Pakistan military surrendered jointly to Bangladesh Mukti Bahini guerillas and Eastern Command of the Indian Army on 16 December.

The day is observed with due solemnity to respect the millions of martyrs at the gigantic National Martyrs Memorial on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. All organizations, professional bodies, and political parties pay homage at the site, except for the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, who were alleged henchmen and armed militias groups, which rampaged and pillaged thousands of villages during the nine months of liberation war.

Pakistan’s 1974 Tripartite Agreement acknowledged war crimes, yet justice for victims of the 1971 war remains elusive.

On a historic day, Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, Commander of Eastern Command, Pakistan Army and Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Eastern Command, Indian Army flanked by a dozen Mukti Bahini commanders signed a historic ‘instrument of surrender’ in accordance to Geneva Convention, and led to the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers, auxiliary forces, civil officers and their families.

It was the world’s largest surrender in terms of number of personnel since World War II. The prisoners of war (POWs) were repatriated under the Tripartite Agreement signed in April 1974 by Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India in New Delhi. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Lahore, Pakistan in February 1974 helped resolve the issue of Bangladesh’s recognition intervened by Egypt and Algeria.

An estimated 93,000 members of Pakistan’s armed forces, other auxiliary forces, civil officers, and their families surrendered on 16 December after a humiliating defeat, which created an independent Bangladesh. The eastern province plunged into a bloody civil war after the military junta refused to accept the election results of the first-ever general elections in 1970.

The martial law government launched a crackdown ‘Operation Searchlight’ in March 1971 in denying hand over political power to the elected representatives. Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was detained.

When Mujib was picked up by the military in Dhaka, nearly 1,500 political and student leaders, intellectuals, acclaimed poets, senior lawyers, journalists and others were arrested from all over Pakistan. Yunus told AFP “The issues (of 1971) have kept coming again and again. Let’s settle those issues for us to move forward.”

Dr. Muhammad Yunus and PM Shehbaz Sharif call for resolving historical grievances to focus on future generations.

Relations between the two countries experienced hiccups during the last five decades. The three military dictators General Ziaur Rahman, General H.M. Ershad and General Moeen U Ahmed went ahead to thaw the bilateral relations with their counterpart military junta in Pakistan, which were never sustainable in the see-saw diplomatic maneuver by the autocratic regimes in both countries.

During the democratic era, the two Begums failed to build up the relationship between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The prestigious Pakistan newspaper The Dawn writes: In the years since the split (independence), Dhaka’s leaders — especially the recently ousted regime of Sheikh Hasina — stayed firmly in the Indian camp, preferring to maintain close ties with New Delhi and keeping Islamabad at arm’s length.

However, ever since a popular uprising that saw Hasina’s government toppled in August, there has been a thaw in ties between the two capitals, with trade and bilateral relations seeing a marked improvement, wrote the newspaper.

They also agreed to expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest and emphasized the need to align efforts to achieve mutually beneficial development objectives.

The two leaders acknowledged the importance of people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges including enhanced exchange of artists, sportspersons, academics, students, etc. Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said he does not see how the relationship would defrost the relationship which has deepened scars of the brutal independence war.

It is no denying that in the Tripartite Agreement, Clause 13, Pakistan agreed to put 195 senior military officers on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and rape as a weapon of war. Unfortunately, lack of a guarantee clause in the agreement, military dictator and President General Ziaul Huq instead pardoned the accused, which was a breach of the Delhi agreement, said the Mukti Bahini veteran Mohiuddin Ahmad.

An unconditional apology for 1971 crimes could serve as a foundation for deeper reconciliation and cooperation.

Sharif said the 1974 Tripartite Agreement involving Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India settled things, “but if there are other outstanding issues,” he would be happy to look into it. Yunus said it would indeed be nice to resolve things “once and for all for the future generations.”

He doubts settling the 1971 issue, retired Ambassador Humayun Kabir, who is also a liberation war veteran said it would be not easy for the people of the millions of people who joined the guerillas, became war refugees, genocide survivors and rape victims would be able to bury the nightmare and pardon the perpetrators, who were not punished from their crimes in 1971.

When military usurper General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Bangladesh in July 2002 was greeted by a general strike and Dhaka University students fought a pitch battle with riot police in the capital.

He regretted the excesses committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence but called for burying the past in the spirit of friendship. Well, his statement was short of apology for the crimes committed during the war and said “Your brothers and sisters in Pakistan share the pains of the events of 1971.” Perhaps an unconditional apology for crimes committed by the Pakistan military during 1971 would melt the ice once and for all, remarks Ambassador Kabir.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.