New Delhi: India on Friday reiterated its support to Bangladesh in its bid to bring justice to Bangladesh over atrocities committed by Pakistan during the 1971 military action, saying Islamabad continues to deny its crimes.The comments came as Bangladesh observed March 25 as Genocide Day, remembering one of the darkest chapters of its history. On that day in 1971, Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight to crush the Bangladeshi nationalist movement.At his weekly media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We are all aware of the horrific atrocities committed by Pakistan during ‘Operation Searchlight’ in 1971. The genocide included the systematic and targeted killing of millions of innocent Bangladeshi people and large-scale sexual crimes against women.”He said, “It forced millions of people to flee the country and seek refuge in India as refugees. These atrocities shocked the conscience of the world. However, Pakistan still denies its crimes even today.”Jaiswal said India supports Bangladesh in its “desire for justice”.New Delhi’s comments come three days after Bangladesh Prime Minister Tariq Rahman described Operation Searchlight against unarmed Bangladeshi people as “one of the most heinous massacres in history”.In a social media post a day before the massacre day, Rehman recalled the military action taken by Pakistani forces.“In the history of freedom-loving Bangladesh, 25 March 1971 is one of the most humiliating and cruel days. “On that dark night, Pakistani occupation forces carried out one of the most heinous massacres in history against the unarmed people of Bangladesh in the name of ‘Operation Searchlight’,” he said.Calling it a planned attack, Rehman said the March 25 “massacre” was a pre-planned massacre.India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, marked by the surrender of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers on 16 December, ended violence and led to the birth of Bangladesh as an independent country.