Awami League Advisory Council member and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has branded BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as ‘Pakistani’ for her controversial statement over the actual number of martyrs in the country’s 1971 Liberation War. Tofail was speaking at a discussion on the 4th death anniversary of Abdur Razzaq, a former AL leader and a leading organiser of the Liberation War, organised by Abdur Razzaq Smriti Sangsad at the TSC auditorium in the city yesterday.
The minister alleged that BNP chief Khaleda Zia speaks on the same wavelength as the Pakistan Government on the Liberation War of Bangladesh.  “It is Pakistan that claims three millions people did not die in the 1971 Liberation War and the trials of war criminals in Bangladesh are being held without following the international norms. Echoing the utterances of Pakistan, now Khaleda Zia is saying that there is a controversy over the actual number of martyrs during the Liberation War and that war crimes trials are not being held as per the international standards. So, she is a complete Pakistani,” he said.
Calling upon former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to study before making any statement regarding the country’s great war of liberation, the senior AL leader said, “Don’t mislead the nation by spreading falsehood.”