Pakistan-Bangladesh reset alarms India as Dhaka warms to Islamabad after Hasina’s fall

Cooperation pacts between the Associated Press of Pakistan and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, and between strategic think-tanks

More than five decades after Bangladesh’s bloody war of independence, Dhaka and Islamabad are rediscovering each other. The trigger: the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime in August 2024, a watershed that has altered South Asia’s geopolitical chessboard.

In the past year, Pakistan has stepped up outreach with Bangladesh’s interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, while Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi have visibly cooled.

Indian defence and security circles are watching nervously. “India sees the closeness between the two countries with serious concern,” intelligence sources told News18. The worry is not just about history, but about the future, with China in the mix, News18 report added.

Dar’s Dhaka visit: Six agreements signed

On August 23–24, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made a two-day visit to Dhaka, the first by a Pakistani foreign minister in 13 years. The trip produced six formal agreements, including:

Visa abolition for diplomatic and official passport holders
A Joint Working Group on Trade
MoUs between both countries’ foreign service academies

Cooperation pacts between the Associated Press of Pakistan and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, and between strategic think-tanks

A cultural exchange programme

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hailed the visit as a “significant milestone.” Dar also announced a Pakistan-Bangladesh Knowledge Corridor, offering 500 scholarships to Bangladeshi students, including 125 in medicine, and training slots for 100 Bangladeshi civil servants over five years.

Civil and military reset: from generals to student leaders

The outreach wasn’t limited to paperwork. Bangladesh Army’s Quarter Master General Lt. Gen. Md Faizur Rahman travelled to Pakistan, meeting Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Both sides pledged to enhance defence and security cooperation.

Dar, meanwhile, met not only with government officials but also with opposition parties and street-movement leaders, including:

Jamaat-e-Islami’s deputy chief Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher
Leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
The new National Citizen Party (NCP), which spearheaded the uprising against Hasina

Bangladesh raises the ghosts of 1971

Despite the warm optics, Dhaka hasn’t forgotten 1971. Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said Bangladesh used the talks to press for:

A formal apology or expression of regret for the war
Settlement of pre-independence assets
The fate of stranded Pakistani citizens

“It would be wrong to expect problems of 54 years to be solved in a single day,” Hossain told reporters, but stressed that “historical issues must be resolved through discussion.”

Dar pushed back, arguing that issues were settled in 1974’s tri-partite talks with India, and later when Gen. Pervez Musharraf expressed regret during a Dhaka visit.

Why India is worried

For India, which once encircled and heavily influenced Bangladesh, the sudden reset with Pakistan changes the equation. News18 reported that Indian concerns are concentrated on three fronts:

India-Pakistan border – heightened risk of cross-border militancy.
India-Bangladesh border – possibility of Islamist groups gaining space with Pakistani backing.
India-China border – Beijing’s deepening footprint in Bangladesh, alongside Pakistan, stretching Indian defence resources.

The Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP, both gaining renewed space in Dhaka, are seen by Indian security agencies as conduits for Pakistani and Chinese influence. “India has to face jihadis on two fronts,” one source told News18, pointing to the dual threat from the west and the east.