Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq Ahmad Karim said on Tuesday his article 'Pakistan: Stalking Armageddon?', which was quoted by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on his blog, was written by him in his 'personal capacity'post-retirement and does not represent the views of his government.
"It has been brought to my attention that a blog posted by L K Advani (recently), senior Leader of BJP, that cited an excerpt from an article on Pakistan written by me in 2001 in my personal capacity as an academic has drawn a lot of attention and some controversy," Karim said in a press statement.
He clarified he wrote the article in his personal capacity after he took early retirement from Bangladesh government service and joined the University of Maryland in the United States as a visiting scholar.
The article was published in Contemporary South Asia, an UK-based academic journal in early 2001.
"Mr Advani, or any one else, is free to cite my works that are in public domain at any time as long as they do so without infringing my personal intellectual property rights," Karim said.
The article has been in the public domain, along with his other articles, op-eds and chapters that he wrote in his personal capacity to books and journals from 2001-2008.
"The views expressed in this article published more than a decade ago and all other articles/op-eds/chapters written by me during the period 2001-2008, represent my personal views and opinions and do not in any way reflect the views or policy directions of the Government of Bangladesh," he said.
After his retirement, Karim was appointed as high commissioner of Bangladesh to India on a contractual basis.
