Pak Foreign Minister due on Aug 23
Diplomatic Correspondent :
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on August 23 on a two-day official visit aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and advancing cooperation between the two South Asian nations.
This marks the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to Bangladesh since 2012.
Dar is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on August 24, Foreign Ministry sources said.
The visit comes after a previously planned trip in April was postponed due to heightened tensions between Pakistan and India following a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had cited “unforeseen circumstances” for the delay at that time.
Following diplomatic consultations, both sides finalised the new date, signaling renewed efforts to engage after a period of relative silence.
Earlier, in mid-April, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch visited Dhaka for a round of foreign secretary-level talks – the first in 15 years.
During those discussions, Bangladesh reiterated its long-standing demand for a formal public apology from Pakistan for the atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War, along with the settlement of unresolved financial claims.
“These issues need to be resolved for having a solid foundation of our relations,” said former Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin at that time.
The upcoming visit also follows a recent meeting between Dar and Hossain at the United Nations during an international conference on the Two-State Solution.
Both countries expressed concern over the Israeli aggression in Palestine and reaffirmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The two sides also reviewed ongoing efforts to enhance political, economic, and cultural cooperation, including exploring ways to improve connectivity and people-to-people exchanges. High-level visits in the near future were agreed upon.
The last visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to Bangladesh was in 2012, when Hina Rabbani Khar came to Dhaka to invite then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the D-8 Summit of Developing Eight Muslim-majority countries.
During the Awami League tenure, the Dhaka-Islamabad relation reached to the nadir without any glimmer of home to improve. On the other hand, Hasina administration was fully aligned with Delhi in all affairs.
But following the fall of Awami League government in a mass uprising in August 5 last year, the diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Islamabad began to feel the warmth as the Interim Government believes in warm relations with its neighbours for mutual benefits.
However, Chief Adviser Prof Yunus several times told Pakistan including its Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to settle the old scores to gain momentum of the bilateral relations for further cooperation and development.
The relation with Pakistan is not only gaining momentum on bilateral level but also anther regional alliance is taking shape among Dhaka-Islamabad-Beijing for mutual cooperation and benefits.
A trilateral meeting has also been taken place recently in Kunming of China where envoys of three countries unveiled the purpose of the alliance.
About the new alliance, Ambassador Yao Wen recently said that the initiative-proposed by China in consultation with Bangladesh and Pakistan-aims to reinvigorate stalled regional cooperation in South Asia.
He described the trilateral meeting as ‘pragmatic and successful’, noting that it resulted in four key consensuses. The guiding principles agreed upon include goodwill and friendship, equality and mutual trust, openness and inclusiveness, and shared development for mutual benefit.
So the engagement between Dhaka and Islamabad is continuing through various channels as both countries are considering areas of trade and businesses and people-to-people connectivity.
The recent visit of Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi also mark continued collaboration in various key areas, including the combat of drugs and terrorism, cooperation in police training, visa-on-arrival facilities for diplomatic and official passport holders, the Rohingya refugee crisis, prevention of cybercrime, and expanding bilateral trade.