Pakistan FM Ishaq Dar in Dhaka on rare visit to reset ties after Hasina exit

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Dhaka on Saturday for a two-day trip, the highest-level visit by a Pakistani leader to Bangladesh in more than a decade. The visit comes in the backdrop of Sheikh Hasina’s exit from power and is being described by Islamabad as a “significant milestone” in efforts to revive bilateral relations.

Dar, who flew in on a special aircraft, was received at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam.

The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Dhaka was Hina Rabbani Khar in November 2012, when she extended an invitation to then prime minister Hasina to attend a summit in Islamabad.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials said the top Pakistani diplomat was scheduled to hold bilateral talks on Sunday with Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain, where up to half a dozen agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) could be signed.

”He (Dar) is expected to pay a courtesy call on Chief Advisor (interim government chief) Muhammad Yunus later in the day. In addition, meetings are expected with BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) Chairperson Khaleda Zia and leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami,” an official familiar with his schedule said.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said that a whole range of bilateral relations and several regional and international issues will be discussed during these meetings.

Dar was set to visit Bangladesh in April, but it was delayed due to tensions with India after the Pahalgam terrorist attack. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch visited Dhaka in April for consultations after a 15-year break in diplomatic engagement with Bangladesh.

Dar arrived in Dhaka at a time when Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan was on a visit as part of bilateral efforts to renew and boost economic and trade ties between the two countries that fought a war in 1971, resulting in the birth of Bangladesh.

Khan earlier held talks with the interim government’s commerce adviser, Sheikh Bashir Uddin, mainly aiming to form a new Trade and Investment Commission and revive the long-dormant Bangladesh-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission.

Khan also held a meeting with Bangladeshi businessmen in the southeastern port city of Chattogram, seeking to boost “business-to-business” ties between the two countries.

According to officials, the two countries have finalised several deals, including a visa exemption for diplomatic passport holders, a cultural exchange MoU, cooperation between foreign service academies, a joint trade and investment group, and MoUs on strategic studies and state news agency cooperation.

Local media reports suggested talks were also underway for MoUs between quality control bodies, Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Pakistan’s Halal Authority and between the agricultural research institutions of both nations.

Bangladesh-Pakistan ties were at their lowest ebb during Hasina’s Awami League regime, particularly when it initiated in 2010 the trial of collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War.

A violent student-led street movement toppled Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024, with Yunus taking over as the chief adviser of the interim government three days after she left Bangladesh for India.

The development paved the way for revitalising ties with Islamabad in the past year when relations between Dhaka and New Delhi turned icy, while India was previously seen as Bangladesh’s closest strategic and economic partner under Hasina’s rule.

With inputs from agencies