ISLAMABAD: The Minister of State for Def­ence and Foreign Affairs, Aziz Ahmed, toni­g­­ht [July 8] expressed surprise over Bangla­desh Foreign Minister Dr Kamal Hossain’s statement that the talks between Prime Mi­­nisters Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Sheikh Muji­bur Rah­man had ended in failure, and said that this was “certainly not the impression that we had carried from the Dacca talks”.

In a statement here, Mr Aziz Ahmed said that Dr Hossain’s disappointment with the talks arose presumably because Dacca had set its expectations in the matter of some of its proposals too high. Within the Prime Minister’s very short visit … two useful agreements were reached: one related to immediate resumption of trade between the two countries; the other related to immediate cessation of hostile propaganda by one country against the other. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Cairo,] the Arab Chiefs of Staff will meet in Cairo on July 21 to discuss means of executing the decisions taken by the Arab League Defence Council to support Lebanon and the Palestinians in Lebanon. … The Council … last week … decided on arms and financial contributions towards Lebanon’s 2,800 million lira defence plan.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2024