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Yunus Sparks Fresh Diplomatic Crisis: Gift to Pakistani General Carries Map Portraying India's Northeast as Part of Bangladesh
- H Sarker
- 29 Oct, 2025
A significant diplomatic controversy has erupted between Bangladesh and India following a weekend meeting in Dhaka, where the Chief Advisor to Bangladesh's interim government, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, presented a controversial gift to a high-ranking Pakistani military official. The gift, a coffee table book titled 'Art of Triumph, Graffiti of Bangladesh's New Dawn,' has ignited a firestorm as its cover features an image strongly alleged to be a distorted map that incorporates regions of India's Northeast into Bangladesh's sovereign territory.
The book was presented to the Chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, during his courtesy call on Professor Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna on Saturday. Images of the exchange, shared by the Chief Adviser's office, immediately went viral, drawing sharp condemnation from Indian and international commentators on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Netizens and geopolitical analysts quickly pointed out that the abstract artwork on the cover appears to reflect the divisive and irredentist concept of 'Greater Bangladesh,' which falsely claims parts of India's West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam.
While a few Bangladeshi X handles have attempted to temper the outrage by claiming the image is merely a stylized painting of the national flag and not a cartographic representation, critics dismiss this as a weak defense. The cover's visual resemblance to a geographically expanded Bangladesh, especially in the context of the state visit by a top Pakistani military figure—a nation historically at odds with India—has amplified the diplomatic gravity of the act.
The controversy is the latest in a series of events that have strained New Delhi's relations with the new interim administration in Dhaka, which assumed power after the student uprising in August 2024. The article highlights that India had previously lodged a strong protest in December 2024 when a key aide of the interim government, Mahfuz Alam, shared and later deleted a similar 'Greater Bangladesh' map on social media. Furthermore, Professor Yunus himself had drawn a strong rebuke from Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year after making provocative comments during a visit to China, where he referred to India's Northeast as "landlocked" and positioned Bangladesh as the "Guardian of the Ocean," an apparent invitation for Chinese strategic expansion.
The official statement following the meeting between Yunus and General Mirza mentioned discussions on "bilateral trade, investment, and defence cooperation," a clear signal of warming Dhaka-Islamabad ties, which has fueled further apprehension in New Delhi. Although Bangladesh has yet to offer an official comment on the map row, the recurring nature of these territorial provocations by figures associated with the new regime indicates a growing rift and the deliberate use of symbolic gestures to challenge India's regional and territorial integrity. The incident forces India to re-evaluate its relationship with its eastern neighbor, especially at a time of geopolitical flux in South Asia.
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