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Published : 24 Apr 2025, 09:19 PM
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has suspended his visit to Dhaka with the Kashmir militant attack escalating tensions with India, prompting tit-for-tat security measures.
In a message on Thursday, the Pakistan High Commission said: “Owing to unforeseen circumstances, the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan is unable to undertake the visit to Bangladesh on 27-28 April 2025.
“The new dates for the visit will be finalised through mutual consultations,” it added.
Dawn reported that Pakistan's National Security Council held a meeting on Thursday. After the high-level meeting, Dar later said that his trip to Kabul had also been postponed.
He said that given the decision of the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned Indian officials while postponing trips to Dhaka and Kabul.
The foreign secretary-level meeting between Bangladesh and Pakistan was held on Apr 16 after a gap of one and a half decades.
The delegation was led by Pakistani Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch.
Dar's visit to Dhaka was set during Baloch's visit.
As many as 26 people were killed and 17 were left injured when militants opened fire at tourists at Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Kashmir's Anantnag district.
It triggered unease as India responded strongly by stopping the visa issuance of Pakistanis under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) visas. It also set a deadline for Pakistanis to return to India, while closing important land borders with Pakistan and suspending the Indus Waters Treaty.
Pakistan also suspended visas and bilateral agreements and closed its airspace for India.
A group called Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front (TRF), claimed responsibility for the attack. It is a branch of the Pakistan-based banned militant group known as Lashkar-e-Taiba.
During the 15-year regime of the Awami League, Dhaka's relations with Islamabad were strained over different issues including the war criminals trials and regional politics.
The interim government headed by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, which took charge after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led mass uprising on Aug 5, 2024, has taken steps to normalise and deepen those ties.
