Bangladesh’s interim chief Muhammad Yunus has once again courted controversy, this time by gifting a Pakistani general a book bearing a map that redraws India’s boundaries. The cover illustration, depicting Assam and other northeastern states as part of Bangladesh, has sparked outrage across diplomatic circles and social media.
The incident occurred during a recent meeting between Yunus and Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairperson, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, in Dhaka. The visit, part of growing military and political exchanges between the two countries, marks a notable thaw in relations that had remained frosty since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
Images shared by Yunus on social media on Sunday showed him presenting the Pakistani general with a book titled 'Art of Triumph'. The cover’s inclusion of the distorted map, one aligned with radical calls for a “Greater Bangladesh”, immediately provoked anger, with critics accusing the Nobel laureate of undermining India’s sovereignty.
The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi has yet to issue an official response, but political observers described the gesture as “deeply insensitive” and “provocative.”
Online users and strategic commentators condemned the act as an endorsement of expansionist narratives that have periodically surfaced among extremist groups in Bangladesh. Many noted that the image of the map directly echoes earlier “Greater Bangladesh” propaganda portraying India’s seven northeastern states as part of Dhaka’s notional sphere of influence.
The episode comes against the backdrop of Yunus’s increasingly assertive rhetoric since assuming charge in August 2024, following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government amid violent student protests. Under his transitional leadership, Dhaka’s foreign posture has shifted perceptibly, marked by renewed overtures to Pakistan and China and visible distance from New Delhi.
This is not the first time Yunus has made contentious references to India’s northeast. Earlier this year, during a state visit to China, the microcredit pioneer described Bangladesh as the “only guardian of the ocean” for the region, declaring that India’s northeastern states were “landlocked” and dependent on his country for maritime access.
“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,” Yunus told Chinese officials in April. “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,” he added.
The comments, widely reported in regional media, drew strong reactions in India. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar swiftly reaffirmed that India’s northeast remained “a key connectivity hub” within the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), underlining its strategic and economic significance.
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Following Yunus’s statements, New Delhi cancelled a key transhipment arrangement that had allowed Bangladeshi cargo to transit through Indian territory to Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar, a move widely seen as a diplomatic rebuke.
Relations have only soured further since. In May, tensions reignited after a retired Bangladeshi general and close associate of Yunus, Major General (retd) Fazlur Rahman, suggested that Dhaka should “collaborate with China to occupy India’s northeastern states if India attacked Pakistan.” His comments followed a terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
Earlier, in 2024, another Yunus aide, Nahidul Islam, shared on social media a map portraying parts of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam as Bangladeshi territory, a post that was later deleted following widespread condemnation.
Despite repeated provocations from within his circle, Yunus has largely remained silent, neither retracting his statements nor distancing himself from those of his associates. Analysts in Dhaka say this silence has emboldened fringe voices promoting the “Greater Bangladesh” narrative.
Regional experts view Yunus’s gestures and rhetoric as part of a broader attempt to recalibrate Bangladesh’s foreign alignments amid shifting power equations in South Asia. “By invoking India’s northeast repeatedly and courting both Pakistan and China, Yunus appears to be signalling a new strategic posture, one that risks alienating India while aligning Dhaka closer to Beijing’s orbit,” said a former Indian diplomat stationed in Dhaka.
The timing of the Pakistani general’s visit has also raised eyebrows. Officials note that bilateral engagement between Dhaka and Islamabad has increased significantly in recent months, with new trade and defence cooperation proposals on the table.
For India, the symbolism of Yunus’s map gift is particularly sensitive. The country’s northeastern region, connected to the rest of India through the narrow Siliguri Corridor, often called the “Chicken’s Neck”, has long been considered a strategic vulnerability. New Delhi has, in recent years, deepened connectivity initiatives with Bangladesh to overcome this geographic constraint, cooperation that flourished under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership but has since faltered.
While Dhaka has not issued any clarification regarding the controversial image, the incident threatens to inflame an already tense diplomatic atmosphere between the two neighbours.
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