Is Bangladesh’s “Pakistanization” A Threat?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Is Bangladesh’s “Pakistanization” A Threat?

The following is an article "Bangladesh’s Continued “Pakistanization” Poses A Growing Threat To India" written By Andrew Korybko; Published in "TheAltWorld" on Sunday 2 Nov 25

The visit of Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman General Sahir Shamshad Mirza to Bangladesh to meet with Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus was already concerning enough for India given Dhaka’s drift away from Delhi since August 2024’s US-backed regime change there. This ipso facto signified that Bangladesh will at the very least rely on Pakistan as a counterbalance to India instead or remaining firmly allied with it. The US could thus exploit this to intensify its containment of India.

To make matters worse, Yunus gifted Mirza a book whose cover displays an abstract painting of Northeast India as part of Bangladesh. This wasn’t a coincidence considering that Bangladesh has already made three “plausibly deniable” claims to that region since its violent regime change almost 15 months ago. Readers can learn more about them here, here, and here. Yunus’ stunt with Mirza was therefore meant to send India the message that Pakistan might soon help Bangladesh advance this goal.

Bangladesh used to host Pakistani-backed separatist militants, who India designed as terrorists due to the means through which they sought to pursue their agenda, but abandoned this policy during the long rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Her ouster was immediately followed by the return of political Islam, ultra-nationalism, and the military’s preeminent role in society, all three preexisting trends of which she’d hitherto suppressed and can collectively be described as “Pakistanization”.

Precedent suggests that the interplay between these aforesaid factors results in a fierce hatred of India fueled by specific religious and counterhegemonic perceptions. The primary difference between “Pakistanization” in its eponymous country and in Bangladesh is that the former is still embroiled in the unresolved decades-long Kashmir Conflict with India while the latter has no territorial disputes with it. That actively changing, however, as proven by Bangladesh’s spree of “plausibly deniable” claims.

To remind readers, Bangladesh used to be known as East Pakistan and was dominated by West Pakistan till its successful Indian-backed Independence War of 1971, amidst which Bangladesh alleges that Pakistan genocided its people (estimates widely vary from 300,000-3 million killed). It was the injustices that led to this war and the brutality committed upon the Bangladeshis during it that led to the last two generations intensely disliking Pakistan. The new one, however, has no memory of those dark times.

This paired with the popular perception of widespread corruption during Hasina’s rule to predispose large segments of society, whose median age is only 26, to radicalism and thus facilitated the regime change. The natural outcome was “Pakistanization”, the final geopolitical form of which could see former East Pakistan voluntarily subordinate itself to what was once its Western overlord in order to function as a launchpad for a joint Hybrid War on India against its Northeast States, one that the US might also aid.

Yunus’ stunt with Mirza confirms that Bangladesh is undergoing “Pakistanization”, which poses a growing threat to India that could soon lead to a return to Pakistani-backed Bangladeshi-emanating terrorist-separatist threats. Pakistan might even justify this as a symmetrical response to what it claims to be similar Indian-backed Afghan-emanating ones. If this comes to pass, then the stage would be set for a regional war, the fear of which the US could exploit in a bid to pressure India into strategic concessions.

NOTE: The author; Andrew Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China's Belt & Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. The above is at link https://thealtworld.com/andrew_korybko/bangladeshs-continued-pakistanization-poses-a-growing-threat-to-india

Pakistan came into being in 1947 on the basis of "Two Nation Theory" after the colonial power Britain agreed for the separation of British India into two nations India and Pakistan. East and West Pakistan, separated by over 1,000 miles of Indian territory, were the two wings of the nation of Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. East Pakistan is now the independent country called Bangladesh, while West Pakistan became the modern-day Pakistan after a 1971 civil war and the Bangladesh Liberation War. The two physically separated wings had common heritage of only Islam among them. 

The separation of East Pakistan was caused by a combination of political, economic, and cultural factors, including a language issue where West Pakistan favored Urdu over Bengali, severe economic disparities that favored West Pakistan, political grievances over representation and the rejection of autonomy, and the cultural and geographical distance between the two wings. These issues, along with military oppression in 1971, fueled a movement for independence. The main actor that was employed for separation was hate fueled anger which was created by carefully crafted administrative actions. The only common heritage was relegated to diversion and manipulation.

The July Revolution, also known as the July Mass Uprising, Gen Z revolution or the Student-People's Uprising, was a mass uprising in Bangladesh in 2024. It began as a quota reform movement in quota rule of getting government jobs in early June 2024, led by the Students Against Discrimination in chances of getting jobs. The student-led protests over civil service job quotas spiralled out of control and became the immediate cause for the downfall of Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Hasina's rule can be summarized as a period of severe democratic backsliding and increasing authoritarianism and significant India's over reach on Bangladesh's economy. 

The scars of 1971 may have been traumatizing and chilling for people who suffered in 1970-1971; but the 50 years have passed and generation borne long after that period has seen more dramatic cruelty in the name of patriotism and over reaching Indian's influence in day to day affairs of common man. The people of Bangladesh are as religious today as they were before 1947 and all efforts to secularize and liberalize common man has failed. There was always the religious Islamic feelings simmering in the body politics and therefore the very cause of two nation theory survived and Pakistan remained relevant in the minds of people of Bangladesh. 

The problem of the region is the simmering Islamic and Muslims' hate filled politics in India and self assumed superior regional being in diplomatic outreach of its foreign affairs. The complete 78 years of Indian history is nothing but Pakistan's bashing and efforts to demean and belittle Muslims of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The threat to regional peace is not "Pakistanization" of Bangladesh but the Hindutva Brigade (RSS ideology fueled politics) led Indian Government. The brotherly relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh may only add value to regional progress, development and peace and shall be welcomed by non regional powers as well.