Dhaka: Dhaka will lodge a strong protest within a couple of days with the Amnesty International (AI) for its statement humiliating Bangladesh’s Liberation War and its freedom fighters, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Sunday.

‘Not only most of the contents of its [AI] statement are unacceptable, it has also humiliated our Liberation War and freedom fighters,’ he told a press briefing at the ministry.

The Foreign Ministry arranged the briefing on the Prime Minister’s forthcoming 4-day official visit to the Netherlands from 3 to 6 November.

After a detailed study of the AI statement, Shahriar said, the ministry has already taken preparations to give a reply to the statement with a protest in its strongest term. ‘We’ll lodge the protest within a day or two,’ he added.

In a statement on 27 October, the Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, said pro-independence forces in the 1971 war also committed crimes, and the trial of two convicts -- Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury-- was flawed.

‘Serious crimes were also committed by the pro-independence forces, but no one has been investigated or brought to justice for them,’ the UK-based right body said.