Handshake in Dhaka: Can India and Pakistan revive ties in 2026?
Al Jazeera
An unexpected handshake in Dhaka has prompted debate on whether India and Pakistan might restart talks in 2026.
Islamabad, Pakistan – On December 31, the final day of 2025, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar did what India’s men, women’s and Under-19 cricket teams had only recently refused to do.
He shook hands with a Pakistani representative in public.
Jaishankar and Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, were among a gathering of regional leaders that had descended in Dhaka earlier this week to attend former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s funeral ceremony.
With Sadiq present in a waiting room at Bangladesh’s parliament in Dhaka, Jaishankar walked over and shook his hand in the presence of diplomats from several South Asian countries.
“He walked up to me and said hello, at which I stood up, and he introduced himself and shook hands with a smile. As I was about to introduce myself, he said, ‘Excellency, I recognise who you are and no need to introduce yourself’,” Sadiq, a veteran politician from Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), recounted the interaction to a private news channel on Wednesday night.
