Although New Delhi has not officially commented on the growing footprint of Pakistan’s Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) in Bangladesh, India's strategic and security community appears to be highly concerned over last week’s development in Dhaka. 

During Pakistan’s Joint Chief of Staff Committee Chairperson General Sahir Shamshad Mirza’s visit, Dhaka reportedly allowed Islamabad to appoint intelligence officials at its High Commission in Bangladesh, a move which is seen as a significant escalation in ISI’s presence there. 

“Since last year’s regime change in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Pakistan have quietly stepped up defence and intelligence cooperation – a trend with significant implications for India. Reports of an ISI-DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh) joint intelligence Mechanism, including an ISI cell operating in Dhaka, point to an emerging security nexus (between the two sides),” India’s ace strategic and security expert Brahma Chellaney said in his post on X.

Rise in anti-India activity
Sharing a 4,096.7-km border with Bangladesh, India is facing security challenges on its eastern flank, especially the northeast region. Since the ouster of the friendly Sheikh Hasina government, resurgence of radical and extremist groups and rise in anti-India activities have cast a shadow on the security atmosphere in areas that border Indian districts, where illegal migration, cattle smuggling and drug trafficking have long been deep-rooted problems.

Hard-core Islamist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB) have been allowed to be registered as political outfits. Ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina had banned the JIB. 

Under the watch of Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, this outfit’s members have gained important leadership positions across universities and state-backed institutions in Bangladesh, as per several media reports.

And then the JIB’s connection with Pakistan’s ISI is no secret. The outfit which had openly backed Pakistan during the 1971 war, despite the torture and mass killings of local Bengalis by the Pakistani Army personnel in what was then East Pakistan, has long been accused of spreading radical ideologies and fanning sentiments against India within Bangladesh.

JIB’s founder Syed Abul Ala Maududi who advocated for the establishment of Sharia rule across the Indian subcontinent, shifted to Pakistan after its creation in August 1947. The deep links between the JIB and radical Islamic elements in Pakistan are often traced to Maududi’s ideological influence that continues to shape the group’s networks in the region.

On October 25, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s founder and UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s long-time associate, Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer landed in Bangladesh and undertook a tour of districts right along the India-Bangladesh border.

As per media reports, he visited multiple areas of Bangladesh that border Indian districts, delivered inflammatory speeches, and networked with local youths. This was his second visit since Muhammad Yunus took office. 

In February 2025, he was in Bangladesh for more than a week, conveying clearly that under the Muhammad Yunus administration radical and extremist elements from Bangladesh and Pakistan are being given a free hand to create disturbance in Indian territories, especially in the northeastern region. 

Muhammad Yunus’s fixation with the northeast 
Amid this tense background, Muhammad Yunus stirred a controversy last week when he presented visiting Pakistani General Sahir Shamshad Mirza with a book that appeared to feature a map depicting India’s northeastern states as part of Bangladesh. 

Shockingly, this act aligned with the country’s radical group called ‘Saltanat-e-Bangla,’ which reportedly backed by a Turkish NGO called the ‘Turkish Youth Federation,’ had released a similar ‘Greater Bangladesh’ map in April. This map was displayed in the Dhaka university.

The Bangladesh government later claimed that there was no evidence of ‘Saltant-e-Bangla’ operating in the country. It also distanced itself from Major Gen (Retd) A L M Fazlur Rahman’s statement in May that Bangladesh should occupy India’s seven northeast states if New Delhi attacks Pakistan. 

Major Gen (Retd) is a close associate of Muhammad Yunus. In December 2024, he was appointed by the interim government as the chairman of the National Independent Commission assigned to investigate the killings in the Bangladesh Rifles revolt of 2009. However, the incident involving Muhammad Yunus gifting Shamshad Mirza a book whose cover showed India’s northeastern states as Bangladesh’s territory has laid bare the underlying motives of the current dispensation in Dhaka.

Growing bonhomie with Pakistan
Muhammad Yunus’s pronounced anti-India stance, combined with his deep hatred for Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party, have driven him closer to Pakistan, a country that has yet to apologize for the genocide committed by its armed forces during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War. 

Experts suggest that Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser has chosen to overlook Pakistan’s historical transgressions, prioritizing Dhaka’s perceived geopolitical interests over past grievances.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, Muhammad Yunus held a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. This was the second meeting between them since 2024; the two leaders had also held their talks on the sidelines of the UNGA last year.

On August 23 this year, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar landed in Bangladesh for a two-day visit. During this high-profile visit, the two countries signed a visa-free travel agreement for government and diplomatic officials. 

Pakistan also announced 500 scholarships for Bangladesh students over the next five years—with 25% allocated for medical education. Pakistan also announced specialized training for Bangladeshi civil servants.

Defence and intelligence cooperation with Pakistan
After Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh and Pakistan have stepped up defence and intelligence cooperation. It received a significant boost during the just concluded visit of General Sahir Shamshad Mirza who landed in Dhaka with an eight-member delegation. Besides meeting Muhammad Yunus, he held talks with Bangladesh’s top military leadership, including the chiefs of the army, air force, and navy. 

As per media reports, Gen Sahir Samshad Mirza’s delegation included senior ISI officials who conducted multiple rounds of discussions with senior officials from Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). 

Both countries, as per reports, agreed to set up a joint intelligence sharing and cooperation framework with the aim to monitor the Bay of Bengal and airspace along India’s eastern front. 

While this development signals an emerging security nexus between Bangladesh and Pakistan, a major shift in the two countries’ military-level engagement is reflected in their decision to explore joint military exercises, training, and capacity building initiatives.

Deepening of engagement with China 
In the post Sheikh Hasina period, Bangladesh under Muhammad Yunus has increased its engagement with China too. Dhaka has allowed Beijing to revive a World War II air base at Lalmonirhat, which lies 12-15 km from the Indian border and 135 km from the Siliguri Corridor—India’s crucial Chicken neck that connects the Northeast with the rest of the country. 

Bangladesh has also welcomed Beijing’s participation in the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, thereby bringing China again closer to India’s border. Then China commenced its work on the Economic and Industrial Zone in Chittagong and modernisation cum expansion of Mongla Port. 

In addition, Bangladesh has requested China to provide a $5 billion loan for budget support to replenish the crisis-ridden country’s foreign currency reserves and import bills. Already, Bangladesh has taken a total $7.5 billion loan from China, making Beijing Dhaka’s fourth-largest lender. 

Conclusion
Muhammad Yunus’s overtures with Pakistan and China, along with his administration’s deliberate attempt to overlook resurgence of radical and extremist groups in Bangladesh, point towards Dhaka’s recalibration of its foreign and security policies.

For India, however, the growing engagement among Bangladesh, Pakistan and China poses both strategic and security challenges. Against this background, India has not only to keep a watch on developments taking place at its eastern flank, but also to undertake all possible measures to deter the country’s enemies from taking any adversarial moves that could threaten its national interest.

Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muhammad_yunus_at_weforum.jpg