Pakistan Speaker, India’s FM hold brief meeting in Dhaka

Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a brief meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday (December 31).

The meeting marked the first direct contact between senior officials of the two countries since their military confrontation in May this year.

The short interaction took place on the sidelines of events surrounding the funeral of former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, who died on Tuesday. 

Her janaza was held in Dhaka on Wednesday, drawing millions of mourners and foreign representatives, including the delegations from Pakistan and India.

According to reports, both Ayaz Sadiq and S. Jaishankar visited Khaleda Zia’s residence to pay their tribute, where they came face to face and exchanged words. 

Pakistani media outlet Geo TV described the meeting as a “major breakthrough” amid ongoing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistani journalist Anas Mallick claimed in a post on X that India’s foreign minister walked over to the Pakistani speaker, after which the two engaged in a brief conversation.

Relations between India and Pakistan have remained strained since a four-day military conflict in May, triggered after a deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in April, which killed 26 people. 

India accused Pakistan of involvement and launched missile strikes inside Pakistan on May 7, prompting retaliatory missile and air strikes by Islamabad. The intense exchanges lasted four days.

The fighting ended after both sides agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States, which remains in effect. 

Wednesday’s encounter in Dhaka is being seen as the first face-to-face interaction between senior Indian and Pakistani officials since that escalation, though neither side has issued an official statement on the substance of the meeting.