Bangladesh and Pakistan Are Changing South Asia’s Geopolitical Landscape  

Their growing alliance will not bring stability to the region. Rather, it will raise the geopolitical temperature and provoke more Indian pressure on Bangladesh.

Muqtedar Khan

01.31.2025

This article was published by The Diplomat on January 31, 2025.

Since the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian rule in August of 2024, two shifts in the region are reshaping its geopolitical environment. The first shift has been the steady deterioration in India’s relations with Bangladesh. Troubled by the sudden erosion of its influence, New Delhi has been unable to reduce the speed or degree of divergence in Dhaka’s India policy. At the beginning of 2024, Bangladesh was a prime example of the success of India’s neighborhood first policy. By the end of the year, it had become the most prominent example of its limits.

Many commentators have documented the reasons for this Delhi-Dhaka breakup. I want to speak about the other major shift in South Asia and analyze its antecedents and possible consequences. The growing bonhomie between Dhaka and Islamabad is intriguing, to say the least. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, broke away and became independent in 1971 with India’s help. Pakistan recognized Bangladesh in 1974, and ever since the relations between the two nations have seesawed. But in the past few months, the two nations have moved rapidly to renew and establish military and intelligence cooperation.

Strategic Relations and India’s Concerns

Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s de facto ruler, has made little effort to restore relations with India, or even address India’s two primary concerns — empowerment of radical forces and the rise of anti-Hindu violence — but has worked hard to improve relations with Pakistan. His meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the D-8 Summit in Cairo in December 2024 was the turning point. Yunus called for a resolution of issues relating to 1971, perhaps a call for resolution for Bangladesh’s lingering grievances. Sharif agreed to look into the matter and called for more strategic relations between the two “brotherly nations.”

Click to read the rest of the article at The Diplomat.