First in 13 years: Pakistan FM visits Bangladesh to reset ties

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Dhaka on Saturday for a rare two-day visit, aimed at rebuilding ties with Bangladesh following the ouster of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A special flight carrying Dar — the most senior Pakistani leader to visit Bangladesh since 2012 — landed in Dhaka, with Islamabad describing the trip as a “significant milestone” in bilateral relations. Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam received him at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Dhaka, in November 2012, when she invited then premier Hasina to a summit in Islamabad.

Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials said Dar would hold bilateral talks on Sunday with Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain, where up to half a dozen agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) could be signed.

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

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

Dar’s visit, initially planned for April, was delayed after the Pahalgam terrorist attack heightened tensions with India. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch visited Dhaka in April for consultations, the first such engagement in 15 years.

Dar’s arrival coincided with a visit by Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, who has been leading efforts to revive trade and economic ties between the two countries, which fought a war in 1971 that led to the birth of Bangladesh.

Khan earlier held talks with interim government commerce adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin, focusing on setting up a new Trade and Investment Commission and reviving the long-dormant Joint Economic Commission. Officials said the two sides had 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 agreements on strategic studies and state news agency cooperation.

Relations between Dhaka and Islamabad had sunk to their lowest ebb during Hasina’s Awami League government, particularly after it initiated trials in 2010 of collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War.

The change opened the door to warmer relations with Pakistan, at a time when Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi had grown frosty.