In the latest episode of improving relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh, Pakistan’s top military official, Director General of Joint Staff Lieutenant General Tabassum Habib, has arrived in Dhaka on October 6 on an official visit to Bangladesh.
The visit is being hosted by the Armed Forces Division under the office of Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus. This is the highest-level Pakistani military visit to Bangladesh since the Yunus-led interim government took charge of Bangladesh in August 2024, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina Wajid.
Lt. Gen. Tabassum Habib Leads Four-Member Delegation
The trip signifies a revival of military-to-military engagement between the two South Asian nations, previously historically linked but politically distant since 1971. Lieutenant General Tabassum Habib currently serves as the Director General of Joint Staff at Chaklala Rawalpindi, where he oversees inter-services coordination among the Pakistan Army’s Navy and Air Force.
He is leading a four-member delegation, including a Pakistan Navy Commodore and a Staff Officer of the rank of Major. The visit is being organized under the supervision of the Armed Forces Division, headed by Lieutenant General S.M. Kamrul Hassan, who himself visited Rawalpindi in January 2025, where he met Pakistan’s Army Chief Sayyed Asim Munir. The AFD functions as Bangladesh’s Joint Defence Coordination Headquarters, managing strategic planning, training, operations, and logistics among the three services and assumes wartime Joint Command Authority.
On October 7, Lt. Gen. Habib received a Guard of Honor at Sena Kunju before holding formal meetings with top Bangladeshi Defence Officials. He will first meet Lt. Gen. Kamrul Hassan at the AFD complex, followed by a one-on-one discussion with Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqir-o-Zaman at the Army Headquarters. He is also expected to visit the Bangladesh Air Force and the Bangladesh Navy Headquarters.
Pakistan Army’s DG Joint Staff, Lt Gen Tabassum Habib, arrives in Dhaka on 6 October on a four-day high-level defence visit. pic.twitter.com/itm8rxSGCh
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) October 8, 2025
The visiting General will visit Mirpur and Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar as well. The arrival of the Pakistani delegation is part of a broader pattern of military-level exchanges between Bangladesh and Pakistan throughout 2025. In January, two senior ISI officers, Maj. Gen. Shahid Amir Afsar and Maj. Gen. Alam Amir Awan visited Dhaka. This was followed in June by a visit of three Pakistan Army Brigadiers to the Bangladesh Army’s Southern Command installations, including Ramo.
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Dhaka’s Strategy: Diversifying Defence Partnerships
Bangladesh is signalling its intent to diversify defence relations beyond traditional partners such as India and China, and engage with regional actors like Pakistan and Turkey on a professional and non-political basis. This pragmatic approach reflects Bangladesh’s founding foreign policy principle, friendship to all, malice towards none, while also acknowledging the evolving security environment of South Asia, where India-China competition and Myanmar instability, and shifting US interests or redefining traditional alignments.
By engaging Pakistan’s senior military leadership, the technocratic government of Dhaka demonstrates both confidence and pragmatism and a desire to diversify its military partnerships to safeguard its national interests.