A Pakistani envoy has urged Dhaka to let "bygones be bygones" as he rejected Bangladeshi calls for help in prosecuting alleged war criminals. "That was a long time ago..."
Bangladesh's new government has said it will try suspected war criminals for murder, rape and arson committed in 1971.
"We were all much younger then..."
Mirza Zia Ispahani, a special envoy of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to Bangladesh, said on late Monday both nations should now look to the future. Ispahani said former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf apologised for the war when he visited Bangladesh during his tenure.
"Most people nowadays don't know any of the dead. We've all gotten on with our lives."
The Pakistan envoy's comments came after Bangladeshi police arrested two men on Saturday suspected of war crimes in the 1971 conflict. They were the first arrests since 1975 when thousands of suspected war criminals were pardoned. The plan to try the suspects follows pledges by newly elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and appeals by veterans of the conflict.
"You should, too. It's not good for you to hold all those nasty old memories."
War crimes were a big factor in December's general elections, when veterans addressed a series of nationwide rallies telling young voters that this was the "last chance" to try suspects. A private War Crimes Fact Finding Committee recently unveiled a list of 1,775 people it alleges were war criminals.
"You'll get a neurosis."