After the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, the new government led by Mohammad Yunus is increasing its closeness to Pakistan by marginalizing India.
SNPNEWS.IN News (Gurmail Kamboj): After the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in India’s neighboring country Bangladesh in August 2024 following student protests and violent incidents, the newly formed government of Prime Minister Mohammad Yunus has prioritized the strategy of marginalizing India and building closeness with Pakistan/China in the last 15 months.
For the first time since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, a round of large-scale meetings is underway between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Pakistani ISI and Bangladeshi DGFI have created a monitoring mechanism in the Bay of Bengal.
Trade between the two countries has increased by 27% in the last 15 months. After the visit of Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Dhaka in August 2025, a new meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) was held in October. It agreed on trade, agriculture, IT and energy. Pakistan offered to use Karachi port for Bangladeshi jute products.
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Pakistan’s Director-General of Joint Staff Lieutenant General Tabassum Habib paid a four-day official visit in October 2025. This is also being considered as part of the increasing military presence after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Pakistan’s Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza arrived in Dhaka on 25 October. This is the first visit of a top Pakistani military officer to Dhaka since 1971. He held meetings with Bangladesh Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus during the four-day visit, which discussed trade, defence and regional security.
He also met Bangladesh Navy Chief Admiral Mohammad Nazmul Hassan, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Hassan Mahmood Khan and Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman. During the visit, the focus was on defence cooperation, training and counter-terrorism.
Yunus presented a book titled “Art of Triumph: Bangladesh’s New Dawn” to Pakistan’s Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza and presented a replica of the BD-08 assault rifle (manufactured by Bangladesh Ordnance Factory) to the Pakistani delegation.
The controversial book features a controversial map on its cover, which shows India’s northeastern states (Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh) as part of Bangladesh.
Which India has strongly opposed, linking it to the ideology of “Greater Bangladesh”. The map is in line with the “Greater Bangladesh” ideology propagated by the Dhaka-based Islamist group “Sultanat-e-Bangla”, which also considers West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and the Arakan region of Myanmar as part of Bangladesh.
In addition, a special ISI cell has also been set up in the Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka. This is to monitor the area along India’s eastern border, which is increasing regional tensions.
Yunus shared pictures of the meeting on his official X (Twitter) account on October 26, which also showed the gift. The pictures immediately went viral and sparked outrage in India.
Indian media and political parties have called it an attack on Indian sovereignty.
Congress MP Pradeep Bordoloi tweeted:
“The Bangladesh map controversy is a direct assault on India’s sovereignty! Yunus gifting a book with ‘Greater Bangladesh’ claiming Assam & Northeast as their territory to a Pakistani general is unacceptable. The Govt must lodge a strong protest immediately. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma cannot remain silent anymore. Time for firm action! #IndiaFirst #ProtectNortheast”
India had earlier cancelled a crucial transshipment agreement with Bangladesh on April 8, 2025, which allowed Bangladesh to transport its goods to Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar via Indian soil. The move was taken in view of Bangladesh’s growing rapprochement with Pakistan. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has lodged an official protest note in Dhaka over the map controversy and warned Bangladesh to “respect its sovereignty”.
The Bangladesh government has called it “completely false and fabricated”. It said the book was a documentation of graffiti art by rebellious students, in which the red design is the Bangladesh flag, not the map. It said the graffiti had caused a slight distortion in the outline, which it said was “imaginary” to link to the claim of including Indian states.
Bangla Fact (a government fact-checking unit) called the map “graffiti art” and accused the Indian media of misrepresentation.