Pakistan played the Kashmir card today with Bangladesh but found the ploy was studiously ignored. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, this afternoon. They spoke for 15 minutes.
After the discussions, the foreign ministry of Pakistan issued a statement as did the press officer of the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office. Both sides spoke about the discussions on the coronavirus and how to fight it. The two countries also mentioned that the difficult flood situation in Bangladesh came up during the conversation.
But Pakistan‘s statement said that Imran Khan spoke of the “grave situation” in what he called “Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” and the need for an early resolution of the problem. The Bangladesh government statement is completely silent on Jammu and Kashmir.
The length of the respective statements may suggest the importance the two countries gave to the conversation. While Pakistan has issued a nine paragraph statement, the Bangladesh government statement is all of two terse paragraphs.
Pakistan said Imran Khan has invited Sheikh Hasina to visit Pakistan, though there is no reference to her acceptance. The Bangladeshi statement does not even speak about it.
Imran Khan spoke of rejuvenating SAARC, but the Bangladesh statement made no reference to it. In fact, the first SAARC leader to speak against the conference planned in Islamabad because of the terrorism problem, leading to its indefinite postponement, was Sheikh Hasina. No SAARC summit has been held since then.https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/exclusive-bangladesh-ignores-pakistan-s-kashmir-ploy/625626
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