Days after Pakistan’s International Minister Ishaq Dar hinted at a brand new trilateral grouping involving Dhaka, Beijing and Islamabad, Bangladeshi International Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain mentioned it’s “strategically attainable for Bangladesh to affix a regional bloc with Pakistan excluding India”, reported information company, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).
Hossain, nonetheless, famous that becoming a member of the “strategic grouping” won’t be possible for Nepal or Bhutan.
“It’s attainable for us [Bangladesh] strategically… [but] it’s not attainable for Nepal or Bhutan to kind a grouping with Pakistan excluding India,” Hossain mentioned on Wednesday.
Hossain’s remarks comply with Pakistan Deputy PM and International Minister Ishaq Dar’s declare {that a} new Bangladesh-China-Pakistan trilateral has already begun and will widen to incorporate extra regional and extra-regional nations.
Following Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, there was a swift and visual warming of Pakistan-Bangladesh ties throughout commerce, defence, diplomacy and infrastructure. After many years of bilateral pressure, stemming from the 1971 Liberation Warfare, cooperation between the 2 nations is accelerating below Muhammad Yunus’s interim authorities.
Bangladeshi advisor Touhid Hossain added that Dar “has mentioned one thing, and maybe in some unspecified time in the future this might see some progress,” including that he had no additional remark as he had solely come throughout the data by the media, reported the BSS.
AFTER SHEIKH HASINA’S OUSTER, BANGLADESH GRAVITATING TOWARDS PAKISTAN AND CHINA
The discuss of a strategic recalibration comes simply months after an important China-led assembly. In June, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan held their first trilateral assembly on the official stage in China’s Kunming.
Across the identical time, there have been studies that Pakistan and China have been working to create a brand new regional bloc to switch Saarc, wherein India is a outstanding member. The Saarc has been principally dormant after the Pakistan-sponsored terror assault in Uri in 2016.
Sheikh Hasina had balanced ties with a number of nations, together with India and China, like an adept juggler. Hasina had secured offers for Bangladesh from all events with out annoying New Delhi, Beijing, or Washington, a Dhaka College knowledgeable had informed India Right this moment Digital in 2023.
That steadiness appears to be misplaced one way or the other, with Dhaka gravitating in the direction of Islamabad and Beijing.
The talks on the regional bloc between Islamabad and Beijing have been at a sophisticated stage, Pakistani every day The Categorical Tribune reported.
“The last word aim of the assembly in Kunming on June 19 was to ask different South Asian nations, which have been a part of Saarc, to affix the brand new grouping,” Karachi-based The Categorical Tribune reported in June.
Following Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh has visibly pivoted towards Pakistan and China. On the assembly in June, the three sides agreed to deepen cooperation in commerce, funding, well being, infrastructure and debt administration, and arrange a joint working group to construct belief and improve regional stability.
This appears to mark a transparent departure from Hasina’s overseas coverage, wherein India was a key accomplice. With Pakistan now pitching an expanded South Asian framework, excluding India, however involving Beijing, it hints on the rising Chinese language strategic footprint in South Asia.
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