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Yunus Gifts Pak General Book Showing NE India as Bangladesh

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, Dhaka
  • Oct 27, 2025
  • 588

Bangladesh’s interim head Muhammad Yunus has once again stirred diplomatic unease — this time by appearing to endorse a distorted map depicting India’s northeastern states as part of Bangladesh during a meeting with a top Pakistani military official.

Over the weekend, Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairperson, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, visited Dhaka to strengthen bilateral ties. Yunus posted photos of their meeting on X (formerly Twitter), showing him presenting a book titled “Art of Triumph” to the visiting general. However, the book’s cover — carrying a controversial map portraying Assam and other northeastern states as Bangladeshi territory — has triggered outrage in India.

The map aligns with calls from radical Islamist groups for a so-called “Greater Bangladesh.”
Social media analysts and commentators in India have sharply criticized Yunus for meddling in issues concerning India’s sovereign territory, though the Ministry of External Affairs has yet to issue an official response.

 

A Pattern of Provocation

This is not the first time Yunus has touched upon India’s northeast in controversial ways. Since taking office in August 2024, following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, Yunus has made multiple remarks implying Bangladesh’s strategic leverage over the region.

During a visit to China in April 2025, Yunus referred to India’s northeast as a “landlocked country” and claimed Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean” for the region — remarks that irked New Delhi. He even encouraged Beijing to expand its influence through Bangladesh into the northeastern corridor, describing it as a potential “extension of the Chinese economy.”

India’s Reaction and Strategic Pushback

Yunus’s earlier statements had already prompted a strong response from External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who reaffirmed the strategic importance of India’s northeast as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC region.

In the aftermath, India cancelled a transshipment agreement that previously allowed Bangladeshi goods to transit Indian territory en route to Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar — signaling New Delhi’s growing unease with Dhaka’s new foreign posture.

 

Growing Axis with China and Pakistan

The latest controversy also highlights Bangladesh’s warming ties with Pakistan and China under Yunus’s interim administration.
Earlier this year, Yunus’s close aide Major General (retd) Fazlur Rahman had suggested that Bangladesh should join China in occupying India’s northeast if conflict erupted between India and Pakistan.
Another associate, Nahidul Islam, had circulated a “Greater Bangladesh” map in 2024 that included parts of West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura, before withdrawing it amid public outrage.

Analysts Warn of a Regional Realignment

Experts believe Yunus’s repeated invocation of India’s northeast could be a calculated attempt to reshape regional power equations, leveraging ties with Beijing and Islamabad to challenge India’s influence in South Asia.

While the incident may yet draw a formal reaction from New Delhi, it underscores a deepening rift between India and Bangladesh since Yunus assumed power — a stark contrast to the strategic cooperation witnessed during Sheikh Hasina’s decade-long rule.