Pakistan recalls diplomat from Bangladeshi capital
The Pakistani government has recalled one of its diplomats from Bangladesh over allegations that she financed a member of a banned group.
A senior official at the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity that a female Pakistani diplomat was sent back to Islamabad on Wednesday.
"The female second secretary of the high commission was sent back to Islamabad this afternoon, two days after Dhaka informally asked for her departure," the official said.
The Pakistani diplomat has been named in media reports as Farina Arshad.
The move comes after Idris Sheikh, a suspected member of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen group, who stands trial for espionage, told a court about his ties to Arshad. According to police detectives, Sheikh has confessed to receiving funds of 30,000 taka (USD 380) from Arshad.
Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan earlier told local media outlets that the Dhaka government would take action against Arshad if the accusations against her were proved.
However, the Pakistani mission in Bangladesh has strongly rejected allegations against Arshad. The mission has issued a statement dismissing what it called "utterly baseless media reports... maligning a female diplomat stationed in Dhaka."
In recent months, relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have deteriorated after Islamabad strongly denounced the execution of some Bangladeshi opposition leaders for alleged war crimes during Dhaka's independence struggle against Pakistan in 1971.
The leaders hanged in recent months were accused of committing atrocities with help from Pakistani forces.
In 2013, a domestic war crimes tribunal handed the death penalty to some senior members of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami Party, in what is seen by rights advocates as an attempt to silence opponents of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The government in Dhaka, however, says the sentences are needed to heal the wounds of the 1971 conflict, which saw Bangladesh gaining independence from Pakistan.
The United Nations has also called on Dhaka to stop carrying out the death sentences, saying the trials in 2013 did not meet international standards.
Opposition supporters in Bangladesh have repeatedly taken to the streets in major cities to protest against the controversial trials of opposition leaders and activists.
Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces over the past few months.
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