ISLAMABAD: A top Pakistani military commander on Saturday met Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and discussed with him bilateral trade, investment and defense cooperation, Yunus’s office said, amid a thaw in relations between the two countries.
Pakistan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, paid the courtesy call on the chief adviser at the Jamuna State Guest House in Dhaka, where they discussed a wide range of issues concerning Bangladesh–Pakistan relations, according to Yunus’s office.
Gen. Mirza emphasized the shared historical, cultural and people-to-people ties between the two countries and expressed Pakistan’s desire to strengthen cooperation in multiple sectors, noting the vast potential for expanding trade, connectivity and investment between Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“Our two countries will support each other,” Gen. Mirza said, noting that a two-way shipping route between Karachi and Chittagong has already begun operations and a Dhaka–Karachi air route is expected to open within months, as quoted by Yunus’s office.
Pakistan and Bangladesh used to be one nation, but they split in 1971 as a result of a bloody civil war, which saw the part previously referred to as East Pakistan seceding to form the independent nation of Bangladesh.
