‘Cultivating a cozy relationship with Pakistan’: Brahma Chellaney on Yunus gifting a distorted ‘Greater Bangladesh’ map including NE India

Bangladesh's interim head Muhammad Yunus is “cultivating a cozy relationship with Pakistan”, said author and geostrategist Brahma Chellaney, who called it a significant shift in regional geopolitics. He referred to Yunus’ meeting with Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairperson General Sahir Shamshad Mirza during which the former presented him with a book that had a distorted map of Bangladesh, showing parts of Northeast India within its limits.

Chellaney said Yunus is not only pandering to Islamists at home but also stoking an anti-India sentiment.

“In a significant shift in regional geopolitics, Bangladesh under Muhammad Yunus is cultivating a cozy relationship with Pakistan – the very country from which it seceded in 1971 after a bloody war of liberation. Yunus, presiding over a state-backed Islamist resurgence, has now sparked a diplomatic incident by presenting a visiting Pakistani military general with an officially sponsored book that features on its cover a map of Bangladesh incorporating parts of northeast India — an image that aligns with the Islamist-backed concept of “Greater Bangladesh.” The book, notably, glorifies last year’s regime change, achieved through violent protests and widespread arson,” he said.

Chellaney pointed out that this is not an isolated incident and that Yunus’ associates had previously circulated ‘Greater Bangladesh’ maps online. Yunus had also reinforced the narrative by describing Northeast as “landlocked” to suggest that Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean”, he said.

The geostrategist was referring to Yunus’ visit to China in April, where he said, “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India... they are a landlocked country. They have no way to reach out to the ocean…We are the only guardian of the ocean for all this region. So this opens up a huge possibility. So this could be an extension of the Chinese economy.” These remarks were received with consternation in New Delhi.

“This steady pattern – of pandering to emboldened Islamists at home while stoking anti-India sentiment – signals not just opportunistic domestic posturing but a troubling recalibration of Bangladesh’s external alignments that can only deepen tensions with New Delhi,” said Chellaney.

Yunus and Mirza’s meeting has sparked a diplomatic incident. Images shared by Yunus showed him gifting Mirza a book titled 'Art of Triumph' whose cover displayed the contentious map.