New Delhi: A statement by Maj Gen ALM Fazlur Rahman (Retd), a close-aide of Bangladesh’s interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, regarding the takeover of India’s northeastern states has sparked off fresh tension at a time when India and Pakistan are engaged in a diplomatic and military stand-off over the Pahalgam terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir that left 26 persons, mostly tourists, dead.
Rahman, a known India-baiter, wrote on Facebook recently that if India attacks Pakistan, Bangladesh should occupy the seven states of northeastern India. “I think it is necessary to start discussions with China on a joint military arrangement in this regard,” he added.
Even as eyebrows in India began to be raised, the interim government in Bangladesh disowned the statement.
On Friday, Bangladesh’s Ministry of External Affairs stated in a release: “The comments do not reflect the position or policies of the Government of Bangladesh, and as such, the government neither endorses nor supports such rhetoric in any form or manner.”
India is not pleased though. Rahman is not just any common social media user from Bangladesh. In December 2024, he was appointed by the Yunus government as chairman of the National Independent Commission assigned to investigate the killings in the Bangladesh Rifles revolt of 2009.
His statements also align with what Yunus has said in China in March this year. Addressing a business meet in Beijing, Yunus had said that India’s northeastern states are land locked and their only access to the sea is through Bangladesh, which he claimed is the ‘only guardian’ of the Indian Ocean in the region. He had urged China to take advantage of this.
This statement had certainly not gone down well with India, which is aware of China’s stance about states like Arunachal Pradesh. China continues to maintain that Arunachal Pradesh is southern Tibet.
Immediately after Yunus’ statement, India had withdrawn the transit permission granted to Bangladesh to send goods through Indian ports and airports to West Asian and European countries.
