The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, has said she has heard about the Pakistan foreign ministry’s denial about the alleged ISI funding to the BNP in 1991, but insisted that they are waiting for the transcript of the disposition of the former ISI chief Asad Durrani in Pakistan Supreme Court.
‘We’ve sought for the transcript. After getting the transcript, we will be able to say about it,’ she said replying to a question at a press briefing at the foreign ministry Saturday afternoon.
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and some senior leaders of the Awami League alleged that the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, took five crore Rupees from the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI before the 1991 general elections.
The Pakistan foreign office spokesperson, Abdul Basit, at a regular press briefing in Islamabad on Thursday denied the allegations in some dailies in Bangladesh that the former director general of the ISI admitted in the Supreme Court that they had financed the BNP during the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh in 1991.
‘Let me say that these news reports are totally baseless. These are not only baseless but also part of mischievous efforts to damage the brotherly and mutually beneficial relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh,’ the spokesperson said.
He said Pakistan strictly adhered to the non-interference in internal affairs of other countries and that it would be ill advised to give credence to such false, misleading and self-serving stories.
When a correspondent drew her attention to the remarks of the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson, Dipu Moni said she had heard about it but had not seen the transcript.
Asked about the Saudi intelligence team coming to Dhaka to help investigate the killing of Saudi embassy official Khalaf al-Ali, she referred to her meeting with the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, in Riyadh on March 21 when he agreed on her proposal to send an expert team to Dhaka soon.
The foreign minister said the Saudi government had expressed full trust and confidence on the investigation process initiated by the Bangladesh government.
She said in the past, foreign intelligence agencies came to Dhaka to help assist the local investigation into the BDR carnage and August 21 grenade attacks.
Dipu Moni claimed that the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia were now best compared with any time of the past.
She was critical of those who were propagating that the Saudi government would send back Bangladeshis from Saudi Arabia to retaliate the Khalaf’s murder.
They should remember that this situation would not be the disaster for the government but for the country, she said.
The foreign minister said as long as such shabby mindset and political
thinking would be in place, the country would be
limping.