Muhammad Yunus, serving as Bangladesh’s interim head, has inadvertently triggered a significant diplomatic dispute by gifting a distorted map to a Pakistani military official. The map, presented to General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, during his Dhaka visit, controversially illustrated India’s northeastern states as belonging to Bangladesh.
The book containing this map, ‘Art of Triumph: Bangladesh’s New Dawn,’ was shared on Yunus’ X account, ostensibly to mark a student movement. However, the territorial misrepresentation has sparked outrage and diplomatic concern.
This cartographic anomaly appears to support the ‘Greater Bangladesh’ ideology, a concept advocated by an Islamist group. This expansive view claims large swathes of Indian territory, including the entire Northeast, West Bengal, and parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha, in addition to Myanmar’s Arakan. This particular map design had previously surfaced at a Dhaka University event and was subsequently addressed in India’s parliament. An earlier indication of this territorial ambition was seen when an associate of Yunus shared a similar map.
Yunus himself has previously commented on the strategic geography of India’s Northeast. During a visit to China, he described the region’s states as landlocked, suggesting Bangladesh as their primary access to the sea. This statement drew a firm response from India’s Foreign Minister, who emphasized the Northeast’s importance as a connectivity hub for BIMSTEC. Following the recent political changes in Bangladesh, India-Bangladesh relations have become more complex, particularly with Yunus’ perceived closer alignment with China and Pakistan, and the political situation involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.