Pakistan ruler angry over Bangladesh PM remarks

Musharraf

September 15, 2000
Web posted at: 11:03 AM HKT (0303 GMT)

KARACHI (Reuters) -- Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said on Friday he had cancelled a planned meeting with the prime minister of Bangladesh in New York after she criticised military regimes at the United Nations.

"Her comments about what is happening in Pakistan (and) democracy were most uncalled for. We do not brook any interference in our internal affairs," Musharraf told a news conference here.

Media reports published in Pakistan said Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wajid had called for action against regimes that grabbed power by overthrowing elected governments.

Musharraf, who took power in October after removing elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup, said Wajid's response was hostile and unacceptable.

Wajid also said in Dhaka that Pakistan should apologise for the killing of its people by the army during the 1971 uprising which led to East Pakistan becoming an independent Bangladesh following the war with India.

Musharraf said "we need to forget about the past and whatever happened in '71 and we need to look forward."

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