Bangladesh continues to demand an unconditional apology from Pakistan for the atrocities it committed against Bangladeshis in 1971.
During the War of Independence, the Pakistan forces massacred Bangladesh and committed genocide to bulldoze the legitimate rights of the people.
Apology for their atrocities, sharing of assets and repatriation of stranded Biharis, who consider themselves as Pakistanis, are the three Bangladeshi demands which Pakistan is yet to fulfil.
“They have to realize and rectify their mistakes,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told Bangla Tribune.
Meanwhile, the political relationship between the countries is not warm as the ruling party Awami League believes Pakistan still patronises the anti-Liberation forces which are hiding in the society.
During the last 10 years only a handful ministerial level visits took place between the countries.
In 2012, the then-Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar came to Dhaka to invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend the D-8 Summit. The summit was attended by International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Gowher Rizvi.
Earlier to that, Bangladesh's education and commerce ministers, and the Speaker visited Islamabad and foreign secretary-level consultations held in 2010.
According to Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries the bilateral trade was about $550 million in 2015-16 fiscal and it was heavily tilted to Pakistan. Bangladesh imported over $500 million worth of products while exported about $50 million.