National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq exchanged greetings with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Dhaka on Wednesday, a rare moment of goodwill between leaders of the two nations who engaged in a conflict in May 2025.
The meeting occurred at the residence of former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia, where both leaders were present to pay their respects after her death earlier this week. Speaking with Geo News, Sadiq said the two had shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
The interaction has taken on significance because neither country has engaged in public diplomacy since May 2025, when Pakistan and India fought a brief war, triggered by an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir that Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan has denied all involvement and offered to cooperate with any independent investigation.
The tensions even reached athletic competitions, with Indian players refusing to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts during the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2025. They also refused to accept the trophy for the tournament from Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the head of the Asian Cricket Council.
Indian media, however, has downplayed the interaction, with the Indian External Affairs Ministry not including images of Jaishankar’s meeting with Sadiq in its official press release of the Dhaka visit.