Bangladesh Eases Visa Rules, Removes Security Clearance for Pakistani Citizens

Dhaka (The Uttam Hindu): Bangladesh's interim government has done away with the prerequisite to get a security clearance for Pakistani nationals seeking Bangladeshi visa. This comes through a letter issued by the Security Services Division (SSD) of the Ministry of Home Affairs on December 2.

Previously, Pakistani nationals required a "no objection" clearance from the SSD before receiving a visa. This policy, established in 2019 through the backdrop of political and diplomatic tensions, has been officially rescinded.

The change comes just a day before Pakistan's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Syed Ahmed Maroof, met with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia in Dhaka. Zia, who has historically maintained a more favorable stance toward Pakistan, is closely tied to the political legacy of her late husband, former president Ziaur Rahman, who pursued rapprochement with Pakistan.

For political observers, it seems a strategic shifting of weight on both sides by Bangladesh, which is an attempt to normalize its relations with Pakistan while carefully balancing these relations with India. Mubashar Hasan, an analyst on Bangladeshi politics, thought that Bangladesh is trying to change its foreign policy so that it is not strictly aligned with India. Yet, the exact direction and result of such an approach for Bangladesh in the long term, concerning its relationship with the US, remain uncertain.