DHAKA (AA): Pakistan has lifted all restrictions on visas for Bangladeshi citizens as both countries have agreed to intensify bilateral contacts at all levels.
According to Pakistan’s High Commission in Bangladesh, “Pakistan has already removed all restrictions on Pakistani visas for Bangladeshi citizens. The two sides agreed to intensify bilateral contacts at all levels.”
The development came after a meeting between Imran Ahmed Siddiqui and Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam. Talking to an international news agency, Imran Ahmed informed that they were waiting for the same response from the Bangladeshi side.
“Bangladesh’s restrictions on Pakistani nationals are still in place, and that is why I informed the state minister that we have already lifted all bars from our side,” the high commissioner added.
Bilateral relations between the two countries turned sour after Bangladesh government formed a controversial tribunal for the “trial of crimes” during the 1971 war. Siddiqui had also called on Premier Hasina and FM AK Abdul Momen in Dhaka.
Ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan began to turn positive, however, following a rare phone call last July by Prime Minister Imran Khan to his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh seemed interested in establishing closer relations with China and Pakistan due to India’s years-long partial attitude, including monopoly control over common rivers, killings of unarmed Bangladeshi civilians on borders and enactment of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
