On Thursday, Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus said that he agreed to strengthen relations with Pakistan. Both leaders met on the sidelines of a conference in Egypt where they reaffirmed their commitment to deepen bilateral and multilateral collaboration. Yunus and Sharif agreed to enhance the Bangladesh-Pakistan relations through enhanced trade, commerce, and exchange of delegation spanning areas of culture and sports.
The leaders participated in the D8 summit in Cairo, a group of eight Muslim-majority countries. Yunus added that he wanted to resolve outstanding grievances from Dhaka's 1971 separation from Islamabad. In a statement, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif said that he had a warm and cordial exchange with the Bangladeshi leader.
When Pakistan was split into two nations
Notably, Pakistan and Bangladesh used to be a single nation, which was split in the 1971 war. Until recently, Bangladesh shared close ties with India. However, with the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina, the relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi is not going through its best of times.
Moreover, on the occasion of its 54th Victory Day, Yunus in his speech made no mention of founding leader Mujibur Rahman while calling deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration the “world’s worst autocratic government”.
“Bijoy Dibosh” commemorates the Pakistan military's surrender to Indian forces and the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.‘Bangabandhu’ Mujibur Rahman is seen as the independence movement’s iconic figure. His daughter Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5, after massive student-led protests against her government. Nobel laureate Yunus then took over as head of an interim government.
In his televised address to the nation, Yunus indicated that elections might be held by early 2026. "From now on, the responsibility has been entrusted to them to start the process of forming the future government. They have started their preparations. They have a lot of work to do," he told a local news agency, referring to the Election Reforms Commission.
"We have to make sure that the names of all those who have become eligible to vote in the last 15 years are included in the voters' list. This is a big task," he said.
(With agency inputs)
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