Home Affairs Advisor Lt. Gen. Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (retd.) had a courtesy call on Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Ahmad Maruf in his office at the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital on Monday (September 02, 2024).
During the meeting, various issues of mutual interest were discussed between the two countries including flood rehabilitation, development of mutual relations, facilitation of visas, opening of direct flights, cooperation in agricultural research.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Adviser welcomed the Ambassador. When he informed the ambassador about the recent floods in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, the ambassador assured Pakistan’s help with materials for the flood victims of Bangladesh.
The High Commissioner pointed out that during the recent anti-discrimination student movement in Bangladesh, it had an impact on Pakistan and said that at that time, many Pakistani citizens celebrated by flying the Bangladeshi flag. When asked about the major challenges of the current government, the advisor said that the biggest challenge of the government is to prevent corruption and control the price of goods. The two agreed that Pakistan is facing similar challenges.
The ambassador called for strengthening bilateral relations by overcoming the dryness observed in the bilateral relations in the last 15 years. Moreover, the two sides agreed on mutual visa facilitation. Meanwhile, the ambassador said that two weeks ago, Pakistan announced the new visa policy. Under this, citizens of 126 countries including Bangladesh will be able to travel to Pakistan without a visa.
The ambassador emphasized on the resumption of direct flights between the two countries for mutual relations and business interests. He said that the last direct flight between the two countries was operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in 2018.
The meeting also discussed in detail about increasing mutual cooperation in the field of prevention of human trafficking, counter-terrorism and agricultural research.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs including Kamran Dhangal and Zain Aziz, Counselor of Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka were present during the meeting.
