In the future, Turkey’s and Pakistan’s strong footholds in Bangladesh could harm India’s national security – writes Abhinav Pandya

Bangladesh, India’s northeastern neighbor and a hub of Islamism following the ousting of Sheikh Hasina, its elected prime minister, is a new hot spot of Turkey’s Islamist ambitions as part of its broader strategy to attract South Asian Muslims.

Now it appears that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI], its Bangladeshi proxy Jamaat-e-Islami, and Turkey are building an alliance to sabotage India. This jihadist nexus reportedly entails the flow of funds, arms, and radical Islamist ideology to Bangladesh from Pakistan and Turkey.

Prior to the 1947 partition of India, influential Muslim leaders Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy engaged in anti-Hindu and extremist communal politics, supporting Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League to create an independent, Muslim-majority Pakistan from British India.

After Pakistan’s formation, Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, resented West Pakistan’s dominance and suppression of its cultural and linguistic identity. Relations between West and East Pakistan worsened irreparably after West Pakistan’s politicians and generals stalled Mujibur Rahman’s efforts to form the government despite his 1970 electoral victory.

As the refugee crisis further exacerbated with the Pakistani army’s suppression of the local population and the massacre of Hindus, India intervened militarily, forcing the surrender of the Pakistani army and confirming Bangladesh’s independence. After independence, Pakistan’s proxy Islamist organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami continued to........

© Blitz