Pakistan’s highest-ranking military delegation (the first since 1971) headed to Bangladesh recently, and the delegation was led by General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. Upon this visit, the delegation met with the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh, who has been leading the interim government since Sheikh Hasina was removed in 2024, Mohammad Yunus. Controversy arose after the advisor showcased a book entitled “Art of Triumph: Bangladesh New Dawn” to the Pakistani general, with the book’s cover containing a map with the northeastern part of India as part of Bangladesh. This incited outrage in the Republic of India.
The encounter has led many to believe that a marked shift in Bangladesh’s foreign policy under Yunus is taking place, away from India toward Pakistan and China. Critics accuse Yunus of being anti-Indian and distancing himself from Bangladesh’s engagement with Pakistan given the facts of historic atrocities of 1971. The map, containing a Greater Bangladesh, is viewed as an incendiary symbolic act that diminishes trust and credibility between India and Bangladesh, subsequently adding to regional instability, and it could even signal a new alignment of strategic interests. Some analysts assume the act could be a political posturing or mistakenly made diplomatic errors on Yunus’s part.
