ISLAMABAD: Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar personally approached National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for a handshake in Dhaka at the funeral of Bangladeshi leader Begum Khaleda Zia on Wednesday.
This brief exchange marks the first high-level contact between leaders of the two neighbouring countries following the recent tensions. “Hi, I am Jaishankar, and I recognise you,” the Indian minister said.
An official from the NA Secretariat stated that the speaker responded briefly, saying, “Thanks, I know you.”
Earlier, the speaker visited the residence of the late former prime minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia, where he met her son, Tariq Rahman, and her daughter to convey condolences on her passing. He expressed profound grief and sorrow over her demise on behalf of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, parliament, the government, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and the people of Pakistan. He noted that her services toward the progress, prosperity and welfare of the brotherly people of Bangladesh would always be remembered with respect.
He also paid homage to Begum Khaleda Zia for her contributions to strengthening bilateral relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh during her tenure as prime minister.
During the visit, Bangladesh’s National Security Adviser Khalilur Rehman, Adviser on Law and Justice Asif Nazrul and BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman also met with the speaker and discussed matters of bilateral relations and mutual interest.
Later, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq attended the state funeral of Begum Khaleda Zia.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman has said that as we see handshake between Dr S Jaishankar and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, it is always good to see the restoration of common diplomatic courtesies.
“For the record, Pakistani officials have never resiled from any just path to a rational bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan. Nor has Islamabad ever been unilaterally discourteous, discriminatory, violent or hostile to its neighbours. So I would not read too much into Indian foreign minister handshake with Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq,” she said in an ‘X’ post while commenting on the picture of handshake between Jaishankar and Ayaz Sadiq.
The PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate stated in her view the true test of statesmanship would be extending a hand to Pakistan to resume the minimum diplomatic protocols and agreements New Delhi suspended after May 10, 2025. “As a rational regional actor, I think Pakistan may reciprocate to any gesture of normalisation just as it will to an act of war. After all, New Delhi should have learnt by now that you cannot change your geography, nor can you change Pakistan’s borders.
“That’s not happening, so why doesn’t India move its diplomacy into the 21st Century, where conflict may win local elections but will not protect its population. Quite the contrary.”
Sherry stated that the status quo of sustained belligerence that hovers on the brink of escalatory war is not good for millions of vulnerable communities, in sheer numbers more in India than in Pakistan, living on the doorstep of environmental carnage, water and food insecurity.
Apart from the oldest UN dispute (Kashmir), she stated that we share airsheds, coastlines, early warning recipients, water basins, borders and a huge glacial mountain commons. “All are at severe risk while sustainable solutions are only really regional. Climate catastrophes are transboundary, they thunder past human egos or hyper nationalism when they common make landfall,” the senator added.
