KARACHI: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday underlined the revival of bilateral mechanisms as key to rebuilding relations with Bangladesh as he received Dhaka’s High Commissioned for a courtesy call in Islamabad.
The meeting with Md. Iqbal Hussain Khan comes amid a remarkable realignment in South Asia’s geopolitics. Since the fall of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024 and her subsequent flight to India, Dhaka’s traditionally close relationship with New Delhi has grown strained. The shift has created an opening for Pakistan and Bangladesh — once a single nation until the bloody 1971 war of independence — to move past decades of frosty ties.
“He expressed satisfaction at the revival of various bilateral mechanisms between the two sides,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement, quoting Sharif. “He stressed upon the importance of maintaining this momentum to carry forward their bilateral ties.”
Sharif also recalled his “warm and productive” interactions with Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus, most recently at the D-8 summit in Cairo last December, and said Pakistan was keen to expand cooperation in political, economic and cultural spheres while enhancing trade and people-to-people contacts.
The High Commissioner, according to the PMO, briefed Sharif on steps being taken by both countries to facilitate travel, trade and connectivity, and expressed his desire to continue working to “further strengthen the historic bonds of friendship.”
Sharif wished the envoy success in his assignment and expressed confidence that his tenure would “witness positive developments” in the bilateral relationship.
The outreach reflects what experts widely describe as an unprecedented attempt at rebuilding ties more than half a century after Bangladesh’s independence, since which relations between Islamabad and Dhaka were largely defined by mistrust and India’s dominant role in the region.
