Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister To Visit Bangladesh For First Time Since 2012

Islamabad: Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has announced that he will visit Bangladesh next month, making it the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to the country in over a decade. Dar's visit is scheduled for February, after he tours Malaysia, which is set for February 3-5. The visit to Dhaka will likely take place around February 5 or shortly after. This will be the first time in ten years that a Pakistani foreign minister has visited Bangladesh. The last such visit was in 2012 when former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar travelled to Dhaka.

The announcement of Dar’s trip follows a recent meeting between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, which took place at the D-8 Summit in Cairo last month.

Noting that Pakistan and Bangladesh "are rebuilding ties after the fall of the Hasina government," Dar said, "Bangladesh is like a lost brother. We aim to strengthen economic and trade cooperation." Dar also mentioned his invitation from Yunus and his Bangladesh counterpart during a meeting in Cairo.

The foreign minister confirmed that Yunus also accepted Pakistan's invitation to travel to Islamabad at mutually agreed dates, a Pakistani newspaper said. 

It called Dar's announcement of a visit to Dhaka a "groundbreaking development" that shows warming ties between the two countries after the ouster of what it described as "the pro-Indian government in August last year".

Yunus took charge as Chief Adviser after the then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power on August 5 last year following a student-led protest.

After the new-found bonhomie, the first direct cargo vessel from Karachi docked at Chittagong port in Bangladesh in mid-November, which officials said marked a major step in bilateral trade. The second one docked in late December.

Bangladesh has already announced the resumption of direct flights to and from Pakistan soon.

During their meeting in Cairo, Sharif had called for a strategic relationship between Dhaka and Islamabad, and said, “We are looking forward to strengthening our relationship with our brother-in-country Bangladesh.” Bangladesh, however, had asked Pakistan to settle the issues of 1971 to help Dhaka move forward with its relationship with Islamabad “once and for all for the future generations".

Yunus urged Sharif to settle the issues of 1971 to help Dhaka move forward with its relationship with Islamabad and said, “The issues have kept coming again and again. Let's settle those issues for us to move forward.” Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh remained strained during the 15-year term of Sheikh Hasina.

"The Awami League leader never reciprocated several attempts by Pakistan to mend ties as she was aligned with India," the Pak-based newspaper added.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's media reported that Bangladesh has repeatedly wanted Pakistan to "seek apology publicly with a formal announcement" for the atrocities perpetrated against unarmed “Bangalees” in 1971 during the previous regime.

In February 2023, Bangladesh conveyed the same message to the then State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan too, it said.