In the last 54 years, Bangladesh, birthed by the training of its ragtag guerrilla resistance movement and the active support of the Indian Army, has pulled down statues of its founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and become hostile to the country that liberated it from West Pakistan.
In the period after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, powerful voices within the Bangladeshi political and military establishment have expressed open support to Pakistan and hostility toward India.
As India carries out targeted retaliatory attacks within Pakistan, Delhi should keep a keen eye on Dhaka.
Before and after Pahalgam
A highly-placed source in the intelligence agencies told ThePrint that amid escalating military tensions between India and Pakistan, Bangladesh has undertaken a series of rather unusual strategic measures. One such measure was the military drill Akash Bijoy 2025, conducted by the Bangladesh Air Force in April.
This exercise was meant to demonstrate the Air Force’s operational readiness and strategic capability. Under directives from the Bangladesh Air Force Headquarters, all bases and units participated in this drill with combat aircraft, transport planes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, radar systems, and various air defence platforms. Led by the Air Force, the exercise saw active participation of selected representatives from the Bangladesh Army, Navy, Border Guard Bangladesh, Bangladesh Police, Fire Service and Civil Defence, and the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps.
The Chief Adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, was at the drill and gave a diplomatically phrased statement: “We live in a world where the threat of war looms constantly. India and Pakistan remain on the brink of conflict—rumors even suggest war could break out at any moment. In such a context, to remain unprepared is nothing short of suicidal.”
Yunus also spoke about the need for swift modernisation of the Lalmonirhat airbase and instructed the Air Force to expedite its operational readiness. The airbase holds significant strategic and national security importance due to its geographic proximity to the ‘Chicken’s Neck’—India’s Siliguri Corridor—which is only 160 kilometres away.
The corridor, just 21 km wide and 60 km long, borders China, Bhutan, and Nepal. Aircraft operations from the base would occur near this highly sensitive region.
Sharing minutes of a confidential meeting, the intel source quoted Air Vice Marshal Md Manzur Kabir Bhuiyan, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, as saying, “The reconstruction of the Lalmonirhat airbase remains one of our national priority projects. The Chief of Air Force and relevant authorities are well aware of this. This initiative is not based on any other country’s interests, but rather, it stems from our own national needs.”
But much before the Pahalgam terror attack, a high-level delegation comprising four senior members of the Pakistan Army and intelligence services visited Bangladesh on 23 January under strict confidentiality. The delegation was led by Pakistan’s newly appointed NSA Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik. Accompanying him were ISI’s director general of analysis Major General Shahid Amir Afsar, Major General Alam Amir Awan, and Special Service Group (SSG) officer Muhammad Usman Latif.
They arrived at Dhaka Airport around 5 pm and were received by a senior official from Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency, DGFI, Brigadier General Mehdi.
The delegation is said to have toured several air bases and military facilities and held meetings with high-ranking officials of the Bangladesh government.
Before this visit, a Bangladeshi delegation led by Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hasan, principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh, had visited Pakistan between 13 and 17 January with other senior officers. The delegation is said to have met with several high-ranking Pakistani officials, including Army chief General Asim Munir and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. The delegation also held confidential meetings with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister.
The Bangladeshi delegation reportedly expressed significant interest in acquiring Pakistan’s advanced military equipment, particularly the JF-17 Thunder fighter jets. Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hasan also commended the Pakistan Air Force’s modern initiatives, cutting-edge technology, and locally developed technological frameworks. Munir is said to have expressed an interest in the production of JF-17 Thunder jets and other modern military hardware. The meeting reiterated both countries’ commitment to enhancing military cooperation and strengthening bilateral relations.
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The ‘mini-Pakistan army’
Following the fall of the Hasina government, Indian intel agencies noted a major reshuffle in the higher ranks of the Bangladesh military. Islamist officers were promoted to general ranks, with many of them directly endorsing what India sees as “terrorist ideologies and Pakistan’s influence”.
Popular Bangladeshi YouTuber Azam Khan, who keeps a keen eye on political and strategic affairs in the country, told ThePrint that Bangladesh’s military ranks have been reshuffled to promote radicalism, particularly hatred for India and Hindus. “We need to remember that the Bangladesh Army is the offspring of the Pakistan Army. You can see Pakistani army patterns in their activities such as working as freelancers in foreign soil, killing politicians, and top generals clandestinely running big business enterprises which might be up to 5-10 per cent of the Bangladesh economy,” he said.
Khan warned that India needs to be careful of the “mini-Pakistan army”.
The YouTuber said that on its part, the interim government, in coordination with the Bangladesh Army, initiated efforts to strengthen ties with Pakistan. As a result, Pakistan-backed terrorist organisations in Bangladesh grew stronger, and substantial quantities of weapons and ammunition began arriving in the country from Pakistan, China, Turkey, Iran, and Algeria.
The intel source told ThePrint that the role of Pakistan in this arms supply was subtle and highly secretive. A container-laden ship from Pakistan arrived at the Chittagong Port on 13 November 2024.
A report in The Telegraph said no details were available on the goods the cargo vessel brought to Bangladesh from Pakistan, but “multiple sources told this newspaper that some large containers were initially taken off the ship before the rest of the consignment was offloaded”.
“Some 40ft containers were first taken off and the local police were pressed into service to create a security ring around them…. This is not a normal practice. You cannot rule out the possibility of contraband items entering Bangladesh,” the report quoted a source as saying.
The intel source said that “these supplies were covertly handed over to the Chittagong Army, under the leadership of Major General Mir Mushfiqur Rahman, General Officer Commanding, 24 Infantry Division and Area Commander, Chittagong Area, Chittagong Cantonment”. Approximately, there were 20 sealed containers from Pakistan.
Later, on 21 December 21, the source said, another Pakistani ship docked at the Chittagong Port, carrying around 678 sealed containers. While a few of them contained sugar, soda, three-piece suits, and potatoes to avoid scrutiny, around 580 containers were secretly transported to the Chittagong Cantonment. The operation was again overseen by Major General Mir Mushfiqur Rahman.
The source said the containers had heavy weaponry, including air defense systems, Turkish-made drones, short-range missiles, and other advanced weaponry.
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Yunus is no Hasina
During his four-day visit to China in March this year, Yunus urged Beijing to expand its economic influence in Bangladesh, and highlighted that India’s northeastern states being landlocked could be seen as a big opportunity. “They have no way to reach out to the ocean,” Yunus said, while describing Bangladesh as the “only guardian of the ocean” in the region.
In an opinion piece, Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), a former GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, wrote that till Hasina ruled Bangladesh, there was no question of a Pakistani upper hand. But Yunus, “who parachuted back from the US to his homeland to be chief advisor to the interim government, has never been in favour of India in any of his utterances”.
“It (Bangladesh) is abetted and advised by the Pakistan’s ISI, which is obviously licking its lips at the potential of an Indian strategic disadvantage being exploited. In the past six months, the ISI has gone to quite an extent to make known its interest. Visits by senior ISI officials with specific forays to areas of strategic significance were a way of conveying interest,” he wrote.
Hasina is here and Yunus is in Dhaka. Delhi needs to keep a tab on its eastern neighbour too.
Deep Halder is an author and a contributing editor at ThePrint. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
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