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Islamabad, Pakistan – Flags of their nations placed on the table between them, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir sat with Lt Gen SM Kamrul Hassan, a Bangladesh Army officer.
This was the highlight of Hassan's trip to the Pakistani capital, where he also met other senior Pakistani military officials. Commenting on Tuesday's meeting between Munir and Hassan, the Pakistan Army's media wing described the countries as “brotherly nations”.
That is not how Dhaka and Islamabad have viewed their relationship for most of the 54 years since Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan. gaining independence after one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century.
The strain in their relationship has only deepened during the nearly 16-year rule of the Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasinawho was ousted in August after mass protests and forced to flee to neighboring India, which supported her government.
But since Hasina's departure, Pakistan and Bangladesh have drawn closer together in an apparent realignment at a time when politics in both countries has shared anti-India sentiments, overriding the historic animosity between Islamabad and Dhaka.
Munir and Hassan “underscored the importance of strengthening military ties and reaffirmed their commitment to insulate this partnership from any external interference,” the Pakistani military said. And their meeting was one of a series of high-level exchanges between the nations.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Mohammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh's interim government, at an international summit in the Egyptian capital Cairo last month, after the two also met in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
And Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar is expected to visit Bangladesh next month, the first such trip since 2012. here, leading analysts to suggest that the geopolitical ground in South Asia may be shifting.
Fixing problems “once and for all”
The genesis of the historic enmity between Islamabad and Dhaka lies in the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. The Pakistani army and its allied militias battled Bengali rebels and killed hundreds of thousands of people, according to independent estimates. These estimates indicate that at least 200,000 women have been raped.
Backed by the Indian Army, Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his Awami League party led Bangladesh to independence. He became its founding president and earned the title “Father of the Nation”.
While Pakistan accepted the independence of Bangladesh in 1974. under a trilateral agreement with India, unresolved issues between Islamabad and Dhaka persist. These include Pakistan's lack of an official apology for its atrocities, the repatriation of Urdu-speaking people from Bangladesh who identify as Pakistanis, and the division of pre-1971 assets. between the two nations.
During his meeting in Cairo with Sharif, Yunus urged Pakistan to resolve the long-standing problems.
“Problems keep coming up again and again. Let's resolve them once and for all for future generations,” Yunus told Sharif, according to the state-run Bangladesh News Agency.
Sharif replied that he would look into “outstanding issues”, the agency reported.
Changed dynamics
Ashraf Qureshi, Pakistan's former envoy to Bangladesh, told Al Jazeera that strained ties between India and Bangladesh over New Delhi's long-standing support for Hasina's “autocratic” government may have prompted the new administration in Dhaka to recalibrate its moves.
Last month, Yunus' interim government demanded New Delhi extradite Hasina for “trial”. Hasina is accused of overseeing a series of human rights abuses during her rule, including during a crackdown on protesters in the weeks leading up to her ouster. The Indian government has not yet responded to the request.
India, for its part, has repeatedly expressed concern about the fate of Bangladeshi Hindus, who make up about 8 percent of Bangladesh's population of 170 million and have traditionally been strong supporters of the Awami League. New Delhi suggests they have been persecuted.
Bangladeshi authorities strongly denied the allegation, adding that misinformation from the Indian media fueling tensions between neighbors.
“Of course, if you are Bangladesh, you would weigh your options and with the state of their relations with India, Pakistan comes into the equation, leading to better ties than before,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi said India also faced a dilemma over Hasina. “India cannot simply hand over Hasina as that would signal that India is happy to abandon anyone who has supported them,” he said.
But Walter Ladwig, a senior lecturer at King's College London, cautioned against overstating the importance of recent diplomatic and military exchanges between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“I think it's a remarkable event given where the bilateral relationship has been over the last 15 years, but at the same time I'd be wary of reading too much into it.” The two countries still have historical tensions and different interests,” Ladwig told Al Jazeera.
Qureshi also warned that geographical realities in the region meant that Bangladesh could not afford to adopt an anti-India stance.
“They share a long border with them. Their water source originates from India. At most, they may take a slightly independent political stance compared to Sheikh Hasina's time, but they would not take an anti-India stance,” he said.
Ladvig agreed.
“A number of political actors in Bangladesh have been forthright in acknowledging the realities of geography and economics. These are trends worth watching, but they need to be accompanied by a number of substantial policy changes before we begin to reassess regional geopolitics,” he said.
India's engagement with the Taliban
Bangladesh's growing relationship with Pakistan also comes amid larger geopolitical moves reshaping South Asia, including India dramatic engagement with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in recent months.
Although New Delhi has yet to formally recognize the Taliban government, senior Indian officials recently met with their Afghan counterparts. Last week, Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri met Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki in Dubai in the highest-profile public engagement between New Delhi and the Taliban.
India's diplomatic engagements with the Taliban have irked Pakistanwhich for decades patronized the militant group and offered sanctuary to its leaders as they fought against US-led forces in the country.
But Islamabad's influence over the Taliban was severely weakened last year when Pakistan saw a spike in deadly attacks, many blamed on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which shares ideological affinity with the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan alleges TTP fighters receive shelter and training on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban denies. Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul peaked last month when the two sides exchanged airstrikes.
Burhanul Islam, another former Pakistani diplomat, said improving ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh could be seen as a “new beginning” after Hasina's ouster.
“Perhaps Bangladesh is looking for military support and security umbrella from Pakistan. I hope both countries are now moving in the right direction and their military leadership wants to improve relations with Pakistan,” Islam told Al Jazeera.
“Economic Opening”
Ladwig believes that despite recent setbacks stemming from last summer's mass uprising, Bangladesh's economy is growing steadily, a factor that could push Islamabad toward better ties.
“Pakistan needs all the economic partners it can get, which is another incentive for Islamabad to try to strengthen ties,” he said.
With a growth rate of 6 percent from 2021. Since then, Bangladesh has been one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia. Pakistan, on the other hand, lagged far behind, managing a growth of just 2.5 percent last year.
Trade volumes between the two countries remain one-sided. Pakistan's exports to Bangladesh are estimated at $661 million, while imports stand at $57 million, according to official data. Last year, bilateral trade amounted to more than 700 million dollars.
Ladwig believes that trade is an area that could undergo major changes in the coming days.
“After a period where there were no direct flights between the two capitals, diplomatic engagement was minimal and people faced difficulties in obtaining visas, any easing will be noticeable,” he said.
“I think the Pakistani government senses an opening and an opportunity to improve ties.”
