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Amid rising tensions regarding new-found closeness between Islamabad and Dhaka, former Deputy High Commissioner for Bangladesh to India, Mashfee Binte Shams assured that Bangladesh's growing relations with Pakistan should not be a concern for India.
Shams while talking to ANI said that Bangladesh's trade with Pakistan will not overtake that with India, adding that Dhaka also has strong people-to-people ties with New Delhi, which Islamabad can never overtake. "There is not at all anything that India needs to worry regarding our relationship with Pakistan because whatever happens, trade with Pakistan will never overtake trade with India," she said. "The relationship that we have with India, the people-to-people relationship, the cultural linkages, the similarities, the language, linguistic, all these sort of commonalities, these are much stronger with our neighbor India than ever with Pakistan," the ex-envoy added. Shams said that Bangladesh has several unsettled issues with Pakistan, due to which Dhaka is still not ready to accept Islamabad with open arms. She added that there are certain curbs on Pakistan which are being eased now. "I think India should not at all be concerned about relationship with Pakistan because in the first place, we have a lot of unsettled issues with Pakistan that still need to be resolved and I think in our hearts we are still not ready to accept Pakistan with open arms," Shams said. "Yes, there are certain restrictions are being lifted regarding visas. Certain trade relationships have increased recently," she added. Reflecting on the concerns over direct shipping linkages between Pakistan and Bangladesh, Shams said it is not a recent development, and it wrere in place even during Hasina's regime as it helps in promoting connectivity. "I know there's a lot of concern in India about the direct shipping linkages but this is not a recent development. Even when Sheikh Hasina government was there, we were still working with the Pakistani side for direct shipping linkages because it doesn't make sense for a ship to go from Chattogram to Dubai and then from Dubai to go to Karachi. You know, direct shipping linkages promoted connectivity with many countries so that way we can avoid costs trading costs we can reduce costs," she said. (ANI)
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