I would like to write about the current situation in Bangladesh. Much has already been said about the coup that happened there recently, but I would like to point out that we may be seeing the beginning stages of another Indian-Pakistani war, and it could begin over Bangladesh. The reason for this is that the people who now want to take power in Bangladesh are pro-Pakistan. Bangladesh used to be a part of Pakistan, and if the former tries to rejoin the latter, that would mean that Pakistan would be bordering on two sides of India. If Bangladesh makes the decision to rejoin Pakistan, then India would send troops into Bangladesh in a new war with Pakistan. In 1971, Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan. In that same year, Pakistani soldiers alongside pro-Pakistan Bangladeshi Islamists (members of Jamaat-e-Islami) butchered and raped Bangladesh. They murdered up to 3 million people and raped hundreds of thousands. This was all done with the support of Henry Kissinger. India eventually entered Bangladesh, pushed Pakistan out and secured Bangladesh’s independence. If those forces that support Bangladesh going back to Pakistan’s fold take over, and try to fulfill their mission, India will intervene to prevent Pakistan from expanding its border with India. We could very well be seeing the beginning stages of another India-Pakistan war.
Today Pakistan is an ally to the US and to Saudi Arabia, while India has relations with America’s archenemy Iran. In May of 2024, India signed a 10-year contract with Iran to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar, the Narendra, fortifying relations with a geostrategic Middle Eastern nation. U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, warned India when asked about the Iranian port deal:
“Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran – they need to be aware of the potential risks that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions”
The US is tierd of India (and this may explain why, all of a sudden, there has been an endless amount of videos showing how dirty India is on social media). It would not be the first time that the US has backed a coup in Bangladesh, as we read in First Post:
On 15 August 1975, the country’s founding father Bangandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members were assassinated and the Awami League government was ousted from power. The coup, carried out by a small cabal of Majors, was masterminded by the American CIA and Pakistan’s ISI operating through some Trojan Horses in the Awami League and the Bangladesh Army, like the then deputy chief, Ziaur Rahman.
So, if a conflict sparks over Bangladesh, the US could use Pakistan (an ally of Saudi Arabia, which is a major ally to the US) as a proxy against India, to squash a country defiant to America’s world order.
Sheikh Hasina was overthrown in a coup in August of 2024. She was very pro-Russia, which was to the ire (of course) of the United States. Amidst all of the sanctions imposed on Russia at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Bangladesh under Hasina was deepening its ties with Moscow. In October of 2023, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would be giving nuclear fuel for Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). According to Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation: “The fuel for Rooppur NPP was manufactured in Russia at Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP), an enterprise of Rosatom’s Fuel Division.” The Financial Express reported that “Hasina’s alignment with Moscow did not sit well with many Western countries” and that this “geopolitical stance was reflected in the U.S.’s increasing support for Bangladesh’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).”
The same newspapers reported how “Bangladesh applied to join the BRICS group—a coalition comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The BRICS group’s growing influence in global economic and political arenas made it a coveted alliance for many developing nations. Hasina’s move to align Bangladesh with BRICS indicated a shift towards a more diversified foreign policy, less reliant on Western powers.” Hasina being push out of power is obviously to the benefit of the US. Now, who is growing in the political realm of Bangladesh? The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is pro-Pakistan. After Sheikh Hasina was overthrown, her enemy, Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister and the chairperson of the BNP, was released from years of house arrest. According to the Economic Times, Zia’s “party is likely to win the elections which the interim government will now hold.” The BNP is an ally to Jamaat-e-Islami, the very Islamist group that joined in the butchery and rape of Bangladesh in 1971. Thus if the BNP takes power, India will have to worry about a rising Pakistan and its Islamist ally. While Hasina is an enemy of the BNP, she has good relations with India and this is shown in the fact that she fled to India after the coup. The BNP sees this as further evidence that India is an enemy. A veteran BNP leaders said: “BNP believes Bangladesh and India must have mutual cooperation…Indian govt will have to understand and behave in a manner which follows that spirit. But if you help our enemy then it becomes difficult for that mutual cooperation to be honoured.” If the pro-Pakistan forces take over Bangladesh, they will use the county as a base by which to launch attacks into India. Moreover, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, will also use Bangladesh as a major base of operations into India. As the Economic Times reported, when Zia was prime minister she allowed for this to happen:
During Zia’s tenure, anti-India forces had a free run to use Bangladesh as a staging post for terrorism and other subversive activities. Pakistan’s ISI maintained a strong presence in Dhaka during Zia’s last years in power between 2001 and 2006 and was instrumental behind a series of terror attacks in India through terror groups. The insurgent groups from India’s Northeast operated out of bases in Bangladesh, allegedly under ISI’s patronage, during the BNP rule. After Hasina returned to power, she ordered a crackdown and handed over the insurgent leaders to India.
There were many other instances of ISI links with Bangladesh during Zia’s rule: ISI footing the election bill of Zia in 1991, a revelation made by none other than former ISI chief Assad Durani
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Ahead of elections in 2014, Bangladeshi intelligence agencies told India about ISI’s efforts to re-energise terror groups in Bangladesh to support Tareque Zia, the exiled son of Khalida Zia, ET had reported. Tareque, who virtually ran the country during 2001-06 as a BNP leader, when his mother was serving her second term, was accused of maintaining close ties with ISI and terror operatives including Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah and mafia kingpin Dawood Ibrahim.
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