It has not been two weeks since the National Security Advisers of Bangladesh and India met in New Delhi, but the visits to Dhaka of senior Pakistani defence force officers continue unabated.
The latest visitor from Pakistan to Bangladesh is Commodore Zia ur Rehman, Commandant of the Pakistan Naval Academy.
Cdre Rehman landed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport on December 6. He was accompanied by Pakistan Navy’s Lieutenant Commander Noman Aslam and two Cadet Officers.
The four visitors took Emirate flight (EK-582) which landed at HSIA at 8:20 am on December 6. The Pakistan Navy officers will leave Bangladesh on December 8.
This is the third visit to Bangladesh by senior Pakistan Navy officers. Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf was in Bangladesh in the third week of November.
It is not known with certainty whether Doval, in his meeting with Khalilur Rahman, raised the issue of unusually frequent visits to Bangladesh of senior Pakistan armed forces officers, although sources had earlier revealed that the Indian NSA handed over a dossier containing a list of suspected hideouts of Islamist terror elements and fundamentalists to his Bangladeshi counterpart.
However, it has been reliably learnt that the unusually frequent visits to Bangladesh of senior Pakistani defence officers so far has been at the behest of the Principal Staff Officer in the Armed Forces Division, Lieutenant General S M Kamrul Hassan, who undue haste in extending invitations to the Pakistani senior officers has been with full clearance from Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus and Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman.
Besides welcoming the Pakistani defence officers, among the most conspicuous steps by the Bangladesh armed forces has been the upgradation and modernisation of the Lalmonirhat airbase which is about 20 kms — as the crow flies — from India’s sensitive ‘Chicken’s Neck’ or the Siliguri Corridor.
Despite public denials in May 2025 by senior Bangladesh Army officers that the Lalmonirhat airbase would not be upgraded in ways that could be militarily threatening to India, the Bangladesh Air Force and the Army Aviation Group have continued to build new infrastructure, including a large hangar and residential quarters within the 1,166-acre facility.
Besides, the BAF has finalised plans to procure Chinese fighter jets from Pakistan as well as China and state-of-the offensive drones and missile systems from Turkey and China.
Senior officers from the Pakistan Army, ISI and the Navy began making frequent visits to Bangladesh since January 2025. Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf was in Dhaka and Chittagong between November 8 and 12.
Adm Ashraf brought in tow Pakistan’s guided missile warship PNS Saif which docked at Chittagong Port for three days.
Bangladesh’s Chattogram Naval Area Commander Rear Admiral Moinul Hasan and three other Navy officers were in Pakistan for a three-day visit which began on November 23.
Rear Admiral Hasan was accompanied by Commodore Mohammad Abdul Quader, Commander S M Elme Azam and Captain Mohammad Shahriar Alam for the “Navy to Navy Staff Talk” and signing of a “Terms of Agreement” for an unspecified objective.
Rear Admiral Hasan left for Islamabad on a day Heavy Industries Taxila Chairman Lt Gen Shakir Ullah Khattak met Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman at Army headquarters on November 23.
Earlier, the then Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, besides some senior Army officers had also visited Bangladesh.
The four-member Pakistan Navy officers’ team led by Commodore Zia ur Rehman left for Chittagong by road soon after arriving in Dhaka.
This team, official documents accessed by Northeast News show, is being provided round-the-clock security by Bangladesh Special Branch sleuths during their sojourn in Chittagong.
