Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has arrived in Dhaka on a two-day official visit, marking the first high-level foreign ministerial trip from Islamabad in over a decade.
Dar landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday. He was received by Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam and Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Haider.
Due to India’s airspace restrictions on Pakistani aircraft following the Kashmir conflict, Dar’s special Pakistan Air Force flight had to take a longer route via China and Myanmar, extending the journey to almost seven hours.
Dar’s arrival comes after a previously scheduled April visit was postponed due to heightened Pakistan-India tensions following a militant attack in Pahalgam, India.
This visit revives the Bangladesh-Pakistan foreign minister-level talks after nearly 13 years.
Analysts note that Islamabad seeks to reinvigorate bilateral ties and strengthen political engagement, while Dhaka prioritises normalisation of relations.
During his stay, Dar is scheduled to hold formal bilateral talks with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain. The two will first meet one-on-one, followed by delegation-level discussions.
He will also pay a courtesy call on Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus, and meet BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia as well as senior Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
Key topics expected in the talks include trade, investment, connectivity, agriculture, and people-to-people exchanges.
Dhaka is likely to emphasise building relations based on mutual respect, understanding, and shared interests. However, three issues remained unresolved for long: Pakistan’s formal apology for the 1971 genocide, the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, and settlement of Bangladesh’s rightful share of pre-1971 undivided assets.
Following the foreign ministerial meeting, both sides are expected to sign several agreements, including visa exemption for government and diplomatic passport holders, establishment of a Joint Working Group on trade and commerce, cultural exchange programmes, cooperation between foreign service academies, collaboration between state news agencies, and MoUs among research institutions from both countries.
Dar is the third Pakistani minister to visit Dhaka since Bangladesh’s political transition following the mass uprising, after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Commerce Minister Jam Jamal Khan.
His engagements with political leaders are being closely watched in Dhaka’s political circles.
The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Bangladesh was Hina Rabbani Khar in 2012. Her planned follow-up visit in 2022 was eventually canceled.
Dar’s trip, therefore, is seen as a rare and significant attempt to re-engage with Dhaka after years of strained ties.
