Dhaka [Bangladesh], August 4 (ANI): Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was on his way to Cambodia, made a brief stopover at Chittagong airport in Bangladesh where he met with the country's Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and they exchanged books from each other's countries as gifts.

According to a press release, Zardari was received by Mahmud at Chittagong on Wednesday when the former was on his way to Cambodia to attend the 29th Ministerial Meeting of ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), being held in Phnom Penh from Thursday, reported Bangladesh's local media outlet Dhaka Tribune.

The two ministers also exchanged books from each other's countries as gifts. The Pakistani foreign minister stayed for around 40 minutes at the airport.

During his transit in Chittagong, he conveyed his compliments and message of goodwill to the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr AK Abdul Momen and the people of Bangladesh, the release added.

Meanwhile, it is worthy to note that though relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved to some extent yet Pakistan remains reluctant to apologize for the horrific violence it unleashed on millions of Bangladeshis.

Pakistan is trying to justify the massacre of Bangladeshi residents by its military during the 1971 Bangladesh war, denying the extent of the military oppression and blaming the whole incident on Bangladesh for the separation.

Pakistani scholars jointly agree on sabotaging the Bangladesi uprising in 1971, accusing the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, of recasting the killings of non-Bengalis as a struggle conducted by the Awami League and of implementing it against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), reported by Global Strat View, an independent media group.

Pakistan believes the mock trials of war criminals to be absurd and deems that "those accused of attacking, killing and raping members of their community will never be brought to justice. In official memory, as institutionalized by the Bangladeshi state, only crimes against Bengalis are remembered."Pakistan even lends its support to war groups like the Khalistan movement, fighting against the Indian state. Pakistan also claims that Bangladeshi Hindu professors spread secessionist sentiments amongst its students, reported Global Strat View, an independent media group.Aggressive think tanks cover the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan with a certain biasedness, highlighting only those issues that comply with the official policy while ignoring anything that violates the guidelines.

The Pakistani authorities oppose Bangladesh's efforts to deliver justice to the victims who suffered in the Pakistani war crimes, criticizing the execution of two convicted war criminals, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, leader of BNP, and Ali Ahsan Mohammad, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami.Also, countries like China and The United States suppressed the genocide reports as well, provoking both activists and academics. Thus, in turn, the Bangladeshi uprising of 1971 has been reduced to a civic-political demand.Recognition of the brutal massacre and the qualitative widening of the current legal understanding of genocide during the Liberation Struggle of Bangladesh is ethically demanded. (ANI)