Bangladesh has firmly rejected Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s claim that the issue of Islamabad’s apology for the 1971 genocide was settled decades ago.

Dar, who visited Dhaka on Sunday in the first state-level trip in 13 years, told reporters the matter had been resolved in 1974 and again during former President Pervez Musharraf’s visit in the early 2000s.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Hossain, however, dismissed the claim. “I definitely do not agree. If we had agreed, the problem would have been resolved,” he said, stressing Dhaka’s three unresolved demands: a formal apology, financial compensation for pre-independence assets, and repatriation of stranded Pakistanis.

Hossain noted that progress in bilateral ties depends on addressing these issues, while opposition parties condemned Dar’s remarks as an attempt to whitewash the atrocities of Operation Searchlight, which killed millions in 1971.