A photo from Khaleda Zia’s funeral went viral that showed India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar shake hands with Pakistan’s National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq. Now recently, Ayan has claimed that Jaishankar personally came to him to shake hands.
In an interview, Ayan said,
“He himself came to me and said hello. I stood up, he introduced himself and smiled while shaking hands. Just as I was about to introduce myself, he said, ‘I recognise you, no introduction is needed.“
This was the first face-to-face meeting and handshake between senior leaders of India and Pakistan since Operation Sindoor in May, making the meeting diplomatically significant.
Indian team players did not shake hands
This meeting has all eyes especially because during last September’s Asia Cup, the Indian cricket team had refused to shake hands with Pakistani players. This clearly showed how tense relations between the two countries had become.
In April last year, India had accused Pakistan of a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, and suspended the Indus Water Treaty. Pakistan denied these allegations.
Following this, there was a four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May. After these events, relations between the two countries had become extremely strained. In this context, the handshake in Dhaka came as a surprise to many.
