More than five decades after its defeat in the 1971 Liberation War, Pakistan’s military establishment has yet to reconcile with the bitter humiliation inflicted by the Bengali people. In that war, which saw India’s decisive intervention, East Pakistan was liberated and emerged as the sovereign nation of Bangladesh. However, the military top brass in Islamabad, haunted by what they perceive as a disgraceful defeat by so-called “pseudo-Hindus” and Indian forces, continues to nurture an unquenchable thirst for revenge.

Pakistan’s leadership – particularly its military and intelligence agencies – has long resented the cultural and linguistic independence of Bengalis, whom they sought to assimilate by imposing Urdu as the national language. But Bengalis resisted, culminating in the historic Language Movement of 1952, during which Bengalis sacrificed their lives to preserve their linguistic identity. The seeds of discontent and the desire for liberation were sown from that moment onward.

Today, over 54 years since Bangladesh’s independence, Pakistan’s military establishment is allegedly advancing a covert but alarming agenda: to reclaim control over Bangladesh and reduce its citizens to subservient subjects of Islamabad. At the core of this dangerous plot lies the strategic use of the “Stranded Pakistanis” – commonly referred to as Biharis in Bangladesh – many of whom remain loyal to Pakistan.

In 1971, during the war for Bangladesh’s independence, Biharis – primarily Urdu-speaking Muslims who had migrated to East Pakistan from regions like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal after the 1947 partition – sided with the Pakistani military. They were widely complicit in atrocities including rape, murder, and looting of Bengalis. As a result, following independence, Biharis were regarded as collaborators and faced marginalization.

While Pakistan initially repatriated around 83,000 Biharis – including civil servants and military personnel – out of a pledged 170,000, the repatriation process was abruptly halted in 1974. Many analysts believe this was a strategic decision by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which saw these individuals not as refugees, but as a future asset – potential sleeper agents or “silent soldiers” who could be activated for destabilizing........

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