NEW DELHI: Bangladesh on Wednesday came out strongly in India’s support, slamming Pakistan for its statement that India interfered during the 1971 political crisis in East Pakistan.The assertion came a day after Pakistan’s foreign ministry issued a statement referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s remarks during his Dhaka trip that India had supported Bangladesh’s freedom movement. The ministry criticised Modi's "acknowledgement" of India's "involvement" in the 1971 war and said his statement confirmed India's negative role in the affairs of a sovereign neighbouring state.“The Indian PM was candid to say that India supported the 1971 war of liberation. But this is not tantamount to interference in Pakistan, as New Delhi, as a friendly neighbor, stood by Bangladesh whose independence was proclaimed on March 26, 1971. Therefore, it was support from one country to the other against its fight with a third country (Pakistan),” Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanal Haq Inu told ET over phone from Dhaka.In a statement issued on Tuesday, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Qazi M Khalilullah had said, "Indian politicians not only indulge in actions that are in violation of the United Nations' Charter, but also take pride in recalling their interference in the internal affairs of other states."Claiming that Islamabad has been maintaining this stance since Bangladesh’s independence, Inu said that after the March 1971 declaration, the Sheikh Mujib government was recognized by other countries of South Asia as well. He said the then Indian government had stood by the newly formed regime of Bangladesh and, therefore, the question of intervention as claimed by Pakistan does not arise.Inu claimed that Pakistan’s intelligence service ISI had encouraged and supported growth of radical forces and terror groups in Bangladesh, putting security of the region at peril. “The Hasina government has several and concrete evidence that Pakistan’s spy agency had propped up groups with support of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. Several of these elements participated in the Afghan war and then returned to foment trouble. The groups prospered under the regime of Khleda Zia between 2001 and 2006. And the erstwhile Khaleda government was waging a proxy war against India on behalf of Pakistan,” he said.The minister pointed out that after Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2008, she had taken tough steps to eliminate and control radical elements and groups in Bangladesh. It is no secret that Hasina also fulfilled a long-standing demand by deporting several insurgent leaders from the north east and dismantled their infrastructure, setting a new example in counter-terror cooperation.Inu reiterated Bangladesh’s long-standing demand that Pakistan should own up to atrocities committed against the Bangla-speaking people and tender an unconditional apology. Independent study estimates that 300,000-500,000 Bangladeshis were killed in 1971 by the Pakistan Army.The Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson had also claimed that Islamabad believed in peaceful co-existence and maintaining good neighbourly relations with India, and that characterisation of bilateral relations by Prime Minister Modi as "nuisance" was unfortunate.