Bangladesh, Pakistan Seal Six Agreements
(MENAFN) Bangladesh and Pakistan sealed six agreements on Sunday, notably enabling visa-free travel for official passport holders, marking the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to Dhaka in 13 years.
The accords were finalized at a Dhaka hotel following high-level discussions between Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Bangladesh’s Foreign Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain. Bangladesh’s interim Cabinet had previously approved the visa exemption draft.
The agreements span trade cooperation, foreign service academies, state news agencies, strategic studies institutes, and a cultural exchange initiative. A joint trade working group will also be established.
After the signing, Dar told reporters that disputes related to the 1971 war, during which Bangladesh separated from Pakistan, had already been resolved, citing talks held in 1974 and during former President Pervez Musharraf’s early 2000s visit.
Describing the two South Asian neighbors as a “family,” Dar urged, “Muslims have been asked to keep their hearts clean. Thus, I call on to move forward and forget the past, and take the trade and bilateral ties to a new height.”
However, Hossain firmly rebutted Dar’s remarks: “We want Pakistan to express regret and apologize for the genocide that took place here (during the war of independence in 1971). And Pakistan should take back its citizens stranded here, and resolve the issue of Bangladesh’s claim in the mutual assets of undivided Pakistan,” he told reporters.
Hossain further noted that the Sheikh Hasina administration deliberately paused ties with Islamabad, but the current interim government aims for “normal relations with Pakistan, just as we want with other friendly countries.”
Dar, who arrived Saturday for a two-day visit, is also scheduled to meet interim head Muhammad Yunus and opposition leader Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
In a related development, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, on a separate four-day trip, announced plans for direct flights between Dhaka and Karachi to resume by year-end, aiming to boost trade and connectivity.
Diplomatic ties between Dhaka and Islamabad have improved notably since the August 2024 uprising that ousted Hasina’s pro-India government. The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Bangladesh was Hina Rabbani Khar in 2012.
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