New Delhi: Bangladesh on Sunday pressed Pakistan to resolve long-pending disputes, including an apology for the atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War as visiting Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held talks in Dhaka.
Dar, the most senior Pakistani official to travel to Bangladesh since 2012, arrived on Saturday for a two-day trip to mend the strained ties. He also met Bangladesh's interim Foreign Adviser M Touhid Hossain.
“We have raised unresolved issues such as an apology or expression of regret for 1971, claims over assets and the matter of stranded Pakistani citizens,” Hossain told reporters after the meeting. He acknowledged that “both countries have presented their respective positions” but cautioned that disputes festering for five decades “cannot be solved in a single day.”
Dhaka seeks trade, energy ties with Pakistan
Dar, however, reiterated Islamabad's long-standing position that the 1971 chapter was closed through the 1974 tripartite agreement with India and Bangladesh and during former President Pervez Musharraf's visit to Dhaka when he acknowledged the "genocide" and expressed regret.
The talks produced one agreement and five memorandums of understanding (MOUs). Dhaka sought access to Pakistani markets under the South Asian Free Trade (SAFTA) in sectors such as textiles, energy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and IT. Pakistan, meanwhile, has floated the prospect of exporting energy to Bangladesh.
Dar's visit marks a shift in bilateral engagement following years of unstable relations under Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government. Relations began to thaw after Hasina's ouster in August 2024 in a student-led uprising.
Opposition parties weigh in
In Dhaka, Dar also reached out to leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) , the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami and the newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP). Both Jamaat and NCP leaders have emphasised the fact that without addressing the lingering wounds of 1971 and a formal apology, relations could not move forward.
The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Dhaka was Hina Rabbani Khar in November 2012.
