Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar reaches Bangladesh

In a significant development, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar reached Bangladesh on Saturday ( August 23, 2025), the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh has announced.

Mr. Dar was received at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Asad Alam Siam, High Commissioner of Pakistan to Bangladesh Imran Haidar and High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal Khan and officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs further said that Mr. Dar will meet Chief Adviser of the interim administration Prof. Mohammed Yunus, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossein and adviser for Commerce S.K. Bashir Uddin.

“Discussions will encompass the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation including regional and international issues of mutual interest,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the statement.

Mr. Dar was earlier scheduled to visit Bangladesh in May but his journey was postponed because of the military hostilities between India and Pakistan that broke out on May 7.

The visit had hit the headlines as Bangladesh had not hosted a Pakistani Foreign Minister in more than a decade. In August 2022, Bilawal Bhutto had a stop over at Chittagong airport on his way to Cambodia.

Mr. Dar’s visit will be keenly watched in India as it comes just days after Bangladesh urged India to stop the activities of the leaders of the Awami League who are believed to have taken refuge in India.

“Any form of political activity campaigning against the interests of Bangladesh by Bangladeshi nationals, particularly by the absconding leaders/activists of a banned political party, staying on Indian soil, legally or illegally, including the establishment of offices is an unambiguous affront against the people and State of Bangladesh,” said the MoFA Bangladesh in a statement on 20 August. India had denied hosting the leaders of Awami League saying, “The Governent does not allow political activitie against other countries to be carried out from Indian soil.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had a cold relation with Pakistan and often blamed her political opponents of being influenced by Pakistan that stands accused of committing genocide in the erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971 before the country gained independence as Bangladesh. Since the fall of the Hasina administration, Pakistan has revived its diplomatic activities in Dhaka and has become visible in the capital’s social circle.

The visit is also being viewed in the context of the June trilateral of Bangladesh, China and Pakistan that was held in Kunming among the diplomatic teams of the three countries. On August 21, 2025, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Mr. Dar held Sixth Round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue in Islamabad. China is currently hosting Bangladesh’s Army Chief General Waker uz Zaman.