Bangla needs overview of ties with Pak throughout Khar's visit

Hina Rabbani Khar

Bangladesh needs to examine its ties with Pakistan, including all outstanding issues, throughout the main one-day visit of Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar beginning tomorrow, authorities stated on Thursday.

"This is a short tour of hers (Khar) in Dhaka while her talks with this Foreign Minister Dipu Moni could last up to forty-five minutes if her flight schedule remains unchanged," a senior Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official stated.

Khar can also be likely to turn to Pm Sheikh Hasina. The state stated Khar's ending up in her Bangladeshi counterpart was "certainly likely to evaluate the bilateral issues such as the outstanding ones" like discussing of pre-1971 assets and repatriation of stranded Pakistanis and official apology from Islamabad for that 1971 atrocities and security issues.

But, the state stated, the 2 nations presently in addition have a vibrant economic relation having a Pakistani investment worth USD 1 billion employing some 10,000 people while Pakistan lately purchased a Bangladeshi built ship and wishes to procure more.

Khar will be the very first such much talked about Pakistani figure to go to Dhaka because the Awami League-brought grand alliance assumed office following the December 2008 general elections.

Bangladesh's education and commerce ministers, however, had visited Islamabad throughout the time.

Khar's Dhaka visit was initially looking for October 25 but was postponed as to the authority’s stated "inevitable reasons".