Pakistan worried over death row war criminal Nizami

Pakistan has expressed concern over the dismissal of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami's review plea against death sentence awarded to him for the war crimes he committed in 1971.

“We have noted with deep concern and anguish the dismissal of the review application on the death sentence by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh for Mr Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami,” said a statement from the country's Foreign Office, reports Dawn Online.

“We have also been following the reaction of the international community and human rights organisations to the controversial trials in Bangladesh, related to events of 1971,” the statement read.

Dismissal of Nizami's review petition has paved the way for his execution, and the only option left with him is to seek clemency.

In its statement, Pakistan Foreign Office sought to remind Dhaka of the Tripartite Agreement of April 1974 under “which Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had ended prosecution of the elements his government had accused of war crimes”.

“There is a need for reconciliation in Bangladesh in accordance with the spirit of the tripartite agreement of April 1974 which calls for a forward looking approach in matters relating to the events of 1971,” it added.