Staff Reporter:
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has postponed a planned visit to Bangladesh due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
“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 Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka said on Thursday.
“The new dates for the visit will be finalised through mutual consultations,” it added.
This fresh development comes against the backdrop of ongoing tensions escalating between Pakistan and India following a deadly attack that left more than two dozen tourists dead in contested Kashmir.
All but one of the 26 people massacred in the attack on Tuesday were Indian citizens, prompting a new wave of unrest in a region at the epicentre of long-running and often violent territorial struggle between Pakistan and India, reports CNN.
New Delhi has since downgraded ties with Islamabad, shut a key border crossing, and suspended for the first time its involvement in a crucial water-sharing treaty, among other punitive measures, triggering Pakistan to announce a host of retaliatory measures, including the suspension of trade. Both sides have cancelled visas of each others’ nationals.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference after a high-level meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Thursday, Ishaq Dar said the Foreign Office would summon Indian officials and issue a demarche today to inform them of the NSC’s decisions, reports Dawn.
“Looking at these conditions, my visits to Bangladesh and Kabul have been delayed so that we can prepare a diplomatic response,” he added.
Responding to a question regarding what actions Pakistan would take to India’s escalations, Dar said Pakistan would mirror India. “This is tit-for-tat […] whatever they do, we will do to them.”
Ishaq Dar was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Sunday on a two-day official visit which was being regarded as a significant development in Bangladesh-Pakistan relations. This would mark the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister in 13 years.
