The Bay of Bengal carries more than trade—it carries the weight of history. Yet, as Bangladesh’s BNS Samudra Joy docked in Karachi for Aman 2025, its first major warship deployment to Pakistan in over a decade, these waters now chart a course toward reconciliation. Recent developments in the maritime domain signal a historic thaw, poised to convert decades of missed opportunities into pragmatic cooperation. While the scars of the 1971 war, which resulted in Bangladesh’s liberation, endure, both countries now recognize that economic imperatives and shared challenges—from environmental disasters to maritime issues like illegal fishing and piracy—demand shared solutions. Even as the leadership of both countries consider ideas for greater collaboration during upcoming diplomatic visits, Aman, Pakistan’s flagship multilateral naval exercise, and broader maritime engagement could offer a strategic vehicle for this pragmatism.
Aman 2025: A Platform for Naval Diplomacy
Maritime collaboration is the natural starting point for Islamabad and Dhaka, given their common status as coastal states and Pakistan’s established record in multilateral maritime initiatives. Pakistan has commanded Combined Task Forces (CTF) 150 and 151 more times than any other nation and conducts year-round Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSP) in the region, demonstrating its commitment to regional stability and international maritime security. This legacy set the stage for the recent Aman 2025 in February.
Building on this foundation of regional stewardship, Aman 2025 marked a milestone in Pakistan’s naval diplomacy. Since its launch in 2007, the Pakistan Navy’s Aman exercise has evolved from naval drills into a forum addressing strategic competition, piracy, terrorism, narco-trafficking, resource exploitation, blue economy, and climate disruptions. The 2025 edition featured the AMAN Dialogue—a three-day summit uniting navy chiefs, academics, and policymakers. While the expansion in participation from 50 to 60 nations underlined the platform’s growing relevance, this year’s highlight was the participation of Pakistan’s “lost brother” and pivotal regional maritime player: Bangladesh.
The 2025 edition featured the AMAN Dialogue—a three-day summit uniting navy chiefs, academics, and policymakers […] this year’s highlight was the participation of Pakistan’s “lost brother” and pivotal regional maritime player: Bangladesh.
Aman’s Evolution: From Drills to Strategic Engagement
Aman’s transformation reflects the shifting demands of Indian Ocean geopolitics. The 2025 exercise emphasized both operational interoperability and diplomatic dialogue, blending seminars with tactical drills to address shared maritime challenges. Pakistan’s chief of naval staff, Admiral Naveed Ashraf, highlighted Aman’s role in fostering standardized protocols that enable diverse navies to align strategies and consolidate responses against non-traditional threats like piracy and illegal fishing, despite doctrinal differences. This dual focus has turned Aman into a rare platform where even adversarial powers coexist: U.S., Chinese, and Russian navies participated simultaneously in 2021, while Quad members (Australia, Japan and the United States) engage regularly. India, however, remains absent.
Aman’s ability to convene rivals in this manner is of value to countries like Bangladesh in a region increasingly fractured by great power competition. In the Indian Ocean context, this is especially critical given the outsized role that New Delhi plays, leaving smaller countries with constricted strategic space for engagement with great powers. In recent years, India has dominated the region through membership in initiatives like the Quad and through its efforts towards naval modernization, marked by the induction of indigenous aircraft carriers like INS Vikrant and the development of nuclear submarines. Yet in a region as vast as the Indian Ocean, security must remain a shared responsibility. Collaborative frameworks like Aman ensure smaller states retain agency and Bangladesh’s participation is a timely affirmation of this principle.
High-level naval engagements like the recent meeting between the naval chiefs of Bangladesh and Pakistan in Islamabad underscore this growing realization, laying the groundwork for practical cooperation. Bangladesh’s leadership has also signaled a willingness to move beyond past grievances, reflective of a pragmatism that could redefine South Asia’s diplomatic playbook and maritime engagement.
Geoeconomic and Security Drivers
This Dhaka-Islamabad engagement seems to be part of a broader shift in Bangladesh’s diplomatic posture that began in late 2024, following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. A series of subsequent events — including a visit by a team from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to Dhaka, and Bangladesh’s demonstration of formal interest in Pakistan’s JF-17 platform — point to security being a strong component of the revitalized relationship. In particular, given the India-Bangladesh border issues and diplomatic row, Bangladesh seems to be looking to diversify its partnerships and Islamabad is likely an attractive option.
However, beyond the geopolitical and security drivers, some argue that the reconciliation is fueled by mutual geoeconomic imperatives. It seems to be part of a broader push from Islamabad to enhance intraregional trade — which remains woefully low — especially by expanding the maritime component of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to realize the vision of a “connected Eurasia.” This is evident from the launch of the first direct maritime link between the Karachi and Chittagong ports in 53 years.
For Dhaka, maritime engagement with Islamabad could address specific needs unmet elsewhere. Engaging with Pakistan offers access to different regional security cooperation frameworks than the ones that Bangladesh is currently involved in (like BIMSTEC) and helps achieve its goal of strategic autonomy. And the direct Karachi-Chittagong shipping link could provide a practical sea-land access to Central Asia, besides offering significant bilateral trading potential.
Regional Implications and India’s Concerns
While Aman fosters collaboration, it also reverberates across the region’s geopolitical landscape. Many in India view the situation through a zero-sum security lens. They perceive the reconciliation between Bangladesh and Pakistan to be a result of Chinese designs of ingress into the Indian Ocean, especially given New Delhi’s earlier concerns over Bangladesh’s overdependence on China. Moreover, the strategic concern over future Bangladesh-Pakistan defense cooperation has deepened Indian fears. In response, India is likely to intensify its own naval diplomacy, potentially expanding joint exercises like MILAN and offering Dhaka enhanced incentives like maritime surveillance technologies to secure strategic alignment. Such moves would aim to counterbalance Pakistan’s outreach while preserving India’s historical influence in the Bay of Bengal.
Critics argue that such collaboration risks entangling Bangladesh in the India-Pakistan rivalry and exacerbating regional tensions. However, Aman’s multilateral structure—which includes over 60 states, including Quad members and Indian partners—dilutes perceptions of exclusive alignment, allowing Bangladesh to pursue functional technical collaboration (for instance, piracy response and climate resilience) without endorsing the broader strategic postures of any regional power.
Skeptics also caution that participation in Pakistan-led initiatives could constrain Bangladesh’s autonomy, but Aman’s focus on non-traditional security—divorced from geopolitical bloc politics—enables Dhaka to compartmentalize cooperation. By framing engagement through Aman’s apolitical, issue-based framework, Bangladesh can balance its existing partnerships (for instance, the recent Bongosagar bilateral naval exercise with India) without compromising its non-aligned principles. The challenge lies in maintaining this equilibrium as bilateral cooperation with Pakistan expands, which would require transparent communication and adherence to Aman’s inclusive, non-binding ethos.
Building a Lasting Maritime Partnership
Capitalizing on Aman’s institutional legacy, future Pakistan-Bangladesh collaboration would have to balance ambition with incrementalism. Starting with low-risk, high-reward initiatives — like joint disaster response drills or AI-driven pollution and climate monitoring in the Bay of Bengal — could build trust for more complex collaboration. Safeguarding critical trade routes, advancing the blue economy, and leveraging emerging technologies would yield dividends surpassing conventional security metrics. Additionally, collaborative intelligence sharing and maritime domain awareness initiatives — including joint satellite and drone-based surveillance — can address piracy, illegal fishing, and narco-trafficking. Both navies could conduct joint patrols in critical sea lanes, with Bangladesh potentially participating in Pakistan’s Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSP) — a mechanism already given under Aman’s plug-and-play model. This initiative can later be extended to other SAARC member nations.
Capitalizing on Aman’s institutional legacy, future Pakistan-Bangladesh collaboration would have to balance ambition with incrementalism. Starting with low-risk, high-reward initiatives — like joint disaster response drills or AI-driven pollution and climate monitoring in the Bay of Bengal — could build trust for more complex collaboration
To institutionalize progress, structured steps are essential. Both nations could first formalize maritime cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding, establishing a framework with defined timelines. A reciprocal Pakistani naval port call to Chittagong within six months, combined with a tabletop exercise on disaster response, should follow. Establishing a Joint Maritime Security Working Group—similar to the newly conceptualized Joint Business Council—would facilitate training exchanges at respective naval academies and operational coordination. Designating liaison officers at respective maritime operation centers and starting with Bangladesh’s observer participation in RMSP this year could lead to full operational integration by 2026. These incremental steps would build institutional relationships, in addition to the operational and legal frameworks necessary for more comprehensive cooperation, including joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal, defense industry collaboration in shipbuilding, and real-time maritime information sharing.
In an era marked by strategic competition, Aman’s inclusive model is a strategic equalizer. AMAN 2025 is not the origin of Pakistan-Bangladesh reconciliation, but marks the moment their nascent pragmatism finds operational form. Bangladesh’s proactive engagement is not merely a ceremonial gesture—it is an opportunity to ensure the Indian Ocean remains a space where all nations, regardless of size, contribute to stability and prosperity.
Also Read: The Indian Ocean’s Maritime Security Dilemma
***
Image 1: Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China
Image 2: Pakistan Director General Public Relations – Navy via Facebook
