Pakistan pulls closer to post-Hasina Bangladesh amid shared India concerns

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The flags of their nations planted on a table between them, Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, sat with Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hassan, an officer in the Bangladesh military.

It was the high point 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 Pakistani military’s media wing described the countries as “brotherly nations”.

That’s not how Dhaka and Islamabad have viewed their relationship for much of the 54 years since Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan, winning independence after one of the 20th century’s bloodiest wars.

The tension in their ties only deepened during the nearly 16-year rule of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted from power in August after mass protests and forced to flee to neighbouring India, which backed her government.

But since Hasina’s departure, Pakistan and Bangladesh have edged closer to each other in an apparent reset at a time when politics in both countries have a general anti-India sentiment, overriding the historical animosity between Islamabad and Dhaka.