After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April last year, relations between India and Pakistan have reached an extremely low level. Angered by the attack, India broke its diplomatic relations with Pakistan and then there was a war between the two in May. During this period the leaders of both the countries did not meet each other. However, now Foreign Minister Jaishankar, who reached Dhaka to attend the funeral of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, met Pakistan Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. Congress has targeted this meeting.
Begum Khaleda Zia died recently in Dhaka after a long illness. India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Dhaka to attend his funeral. On the sidelines of the funeral, Jaishankar met Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in Dhaka.
Reacting strongly to Jaishankar’s meeting with Sadiq, Congress national spokesperson Dr Shama Mohammad asked that when cross-border terrorism from Pakistan continues, then why is the minister meeting a Pakistani leader? He also asked, “When you are abusing Pakistanis here, why do you meet them?”
Yunus also posted about the meeting
The photo of the meeting between the two leaders was posted on social media by Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Mohammad Yunus. Regarding this meeting, Pakistan also said on Wednesday that there was a short meeting between the Speaker of the National Assembly of the country Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar.
Pakistan described the meeting as “the first significant high-level contact” between the two sides since the outbreak of the conflict in May. Both of them met on the occasion of the funeral of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Dhaka.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar also met Rahman
A statement issued by the Pakistan National Assembly Secretariat said that Speaker Sadiq had gone to the Parliament of Bangladesh to write his condolences in the condolence book kept for Begum Khaleda Zia, where in the presence of foreign ministers and representatives of different countries, Foreign Minister Jaishankar met Sadiq and shook hands. The statement further said, “This conversation was the first significant high-level contact between the two countries since the conflict between India and Pakistan began in May 2025.”
“Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq greeted India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar ahead of the funeral ceremony of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Dhaka on Wednesday,” the office of Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Mohammad Yunus said along with two photos posted on ‘X’.
Earlier, Jaishankar met Rahman, the acting president of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the eldest son of Begum Khaleda Zia, and expressed India’s condolences on the demise of the leader who dominated the country’s politics for more than 3 decades.