ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bangladesh discussed enhanced defense and security cooperation on Friday during a meeting between senior army officials in Rawalpindi, the Pakistani military said.
Bangladesh witnessed a major political change last year when former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a popular uprising against her government.
Hasina, long seen as close to India and critical of Pakistan, fled to New Delhi after her fall, putting pressure on Dhaka’s ties with India. The shift also opened space for Pakistan and Bangladesh — one nation until the bloody 1971 war of independence — to edge closer again, with senior officials from both sides meeting more frequently at global forums.
The meeting between Lt. Gen. Md. Faizur Rahman, Bangladesh’s Quarter Master General, and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza took place against this backdrop of improving relations.
“During the meeting, both sides discussed the prevailing security environment in the region and laid emphasis on shared resolve for enhancing existing cooperation in defense and security domain,” the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement.
It added that Mirza “highlighted the rising trajectory of bilateral relations between both the countries and identified new avenues of defense cooperation.”
ISPR said the visiting Bangladeshi official lauded the professionalism of Pakistan’s armed forces and acknowledged their sacrifices in the fight against militant violence.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also met Bangladeshi High Commissioner Md. Iqbal Hussain Khan in Islamabad, expressing satisfaction at the revival of bilateral mechanisms to rebuild ties.
The envoy, according to a statement released later by Sharif’s office, briefed him on steps being taken to ease travel, trade and connectivity and voiced his intent to “further strengthen the historic bonds of friendship.”
