Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza has said Islamabad was willing to deepen ties with Dhaka as he met Bangladesh’s interim government chief Muhammad Yunus here.

“Our two countries will support each other,” Chief Adviser Yunus’s press wing quoted Mirza as saying during the meeting, which was held at his official Jamuna residence late Saturday.

The press wing statement said they “discussed a wide range of issues concerning Bangladesh-Pakistan relations, including growing importance of bilateral trade, investment and defence cooperation”.

It said they exchanged views on the growing challenge of “misinformation and the misuse of social media by non-state actors to undermine peace and stability across various regions”.

“Fake news and disinformation have flooded social media. It is being used to sow chaos. There must be a concerted global effort to combat this menace,” the statement quoted Yunus as saying to the Pakistani military leader.

According to the statement, Mirza emphasised the shared historical, cultural and people-to-people ties between the two countries and expressed Pakistan’s desire to strengthen cooperation in multiple sectors.

Mirza noted that a two-way shipping route between Karachi and Chittagong was operational while a Dhaka-Karachi air route was expected to open within months.

The press wing said both sides also underscored the need to de-escalate tensions in West Asia and Europe.

According to the statement, Yunus’s National Security Adviser and ex-diplomat Khalilur Rahman, Senior Secretary and SDG Coordinator Lamiya Morshed, and Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Haider were present during the meeting.

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