The Shaukat Aziz interview
In the backdrop of the Saarc summit your daily published a high-profile interview with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. I find it most heartening that Mr. Aziz elaborated his deep desire for brotherly relations and counseled more people level contacts to invigorate Saarc. The same DS issue also had a small letter from a reader which mentioned what many Bangladeshis have recently found out that the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka has stopped issuing visas for those who need to travel for family or business purposes. If this is the measure of brotherly relations and Pakistan's contribution to people-to-people contacts, frankly we can do without it.
Don't get me wrong. I am a great well wisher of Pakistan and count many Pakistanis as family members and good friends. When they play anyone except Bangladesh, I am an enthusiastic supporter of their cricket and hockey teams as well. But I am sick and tired of this hollow talk of Muslim brotherhood, free trade zones, and neighborly relations which, in
practice, is nothing more than unadulterated, undiluted, unkempt hypocrisy.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In your next interview with Mr. Aziz or any other Pakistani leader, I hope you ask him to explain the gulf between his words and his government's actions.