Pakistan should apologise to Bangladesh for atrocities: Imran

Islamabad, Mar 24 (PTI) Cricketer-turned-politician
Imran Khan said the Pakistan government should officially
apologise to the people of Bangladesh for atrocities allegedly
committed by the Pakistan Army in the 1971 war.
Khan said this during a television show on Geo News
and Geo Super TV channels on Wednesday while analysing the
cricket match between Pakistan and West Indies played at
Mirpur in Bangladesh.
The host of the show asked Khan about the expected
behaviour of the Bangladeshi crowd in Mirpur and he said the
Bangladeshis would support the Pakistani cricket team.
The host then asked Khan whether the time had come for
the Pakistan government to apologise to the people of
Bangladesh for the army operation of 1971.
Khan said he was previously of the opinion that the
army operation was "a good thing" because there was no
independent media in Pakistan in 1971.
Khan said when he went to Britain in 1971, his Bengali
friends told him about the "reality" of the Pakistan Army
operation in erstwhile East Pakistan.
He said army operations always created hatred and "we
must apologise to the Bangladeshis".
He added: "We must learn lessons from our past
mistakes and we should not repeat these mistakes in
Balochistan and the tribal areas where we have started army
operations on US pressure."
Khan said he had experienced the love and affection of
Bangladeshis during an exhibition match in Mirpur in 1989.