SALEEM SAMAD

Soon after Professor Muhammad Yunus frankly announced that Bangladesh is the guardian of the ocean—the Bay of Bengal—the bigwigs, military hawks, politicians, and ‘Godi Media’ in India lashed out at Bangladesh for such a statement, which has been deemed a security threat to the most prominent neighbor of South Asian nations.

Conspiracy theories across the border may sound interesting, but equally disgusting. It is frustrating when scores of Indian so-called defense experts and former military hawks speak and write with confidence that China will establish an airbase (not a military base) in northern Bangladesh to battle the Indians to cut off the so-called ‘Chicken Neck’ or Siliguri Corridor, which physically connects India with North East states.

The consequential theory simmering in the heads of Indian defense analysts claims that the Chinese will severe the North East (which is also known as the Seven Sisters) from the Chicken Neck. Incidentally, millions of Chinese soldiers (People’s Liberation Army) will invade from the northeastern Chinese borders.

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dilip Ghosh in a ‘friendly message’ in December 2024, commented that Bangladesh’s armed forces are no match for India and that Bangladesh’s political leaders should “think carefully” about the ongoing turmoil.

Promptly Eresh Omar Jamal in an Op Ed in The Daily Star, an independent newspaper, wrote: It is important to mention that BJP leaders have repeatedly accused Bangladeshis of trying to take over the “rightful land” of Indians, referring to them as “Jihadis,” “infiltrators,” and “termites,” who should be identified and drowned in the Bay of Bengal.

The hawkish Generals and Indian defense policymakers have already pressed the panic button and are preparing exhaustive defensive strategies to save North East India from being bifurcated.

A defense journal, Defense Security Asia in a recent article says that India has deployed its cutting-edge Russian-built S-400 Trium long-range air defense system to the Siliguri Corridor (20–22 kilometer wide land bridge in West Bengal often dubbed the “Chicken’s Neck” due to its precarious geography).

“This critical strip of land forms the only terrestrial conduit between mainland India and its resource-rich but geographically isolated northeastern states, making it one of the country’s most vital and vulnerable military arteries.

“The positioning of the S-400 system — renowned for its ability to simultaneously engage multiple aerial targets at ranges exceeding 400 kilometers is viewed as a calibrated response to intensifying aerial activity by China and Bangladesh near India’s eastern frontier.”

The article does not hesitate to say that New Delhi’s “security establishment has grown increasingly alarmed by the frequency and complexity of Chinese and Bangladeshi air maneuvers” along their respective borders with the Siliguri Corridor, interpreting them as probing gestures with strategic undertones.

The write-up also does not provide evidence from aerial and surveillance photos to claim the military maneuver of the Chinese and Bangladesh. There is no airbase in northern Bangladesh.

The Indian security experts believe that Bangladesh has given the airfields to the Chinese to convert them into a military base. There are two tiny abandoned airstrips at Thakurgaon and Lalmonirhat built by the British colonialists during the Second World War to defend against Japanese invasion.

British Raj built a dozen airfields for light fighter aircraft in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Also another two dozen airfields were built in neighboring Indian states of West Bengal and North East India.

The conspiracy theories cropped up following the collapse of the staunch pro-India Sheikh Hasina government. The potential move to give the airfields to China has stirred alarm in the Indian capital, given the site’s proximity to the Siliguri Corridor.

The timing of India’s force posture recalibration coincides with a discernible diplomatic pivot by Bangladesh’s interim administration under Mohammad Yunus, whose government has moved closer to Beijing in both rhetoric and action, writes the Defense Security Asia. They fear in a bid to recalibrate its foreign policy footing, Bangladesh under Yunus has actively pursued economic and infrastructure partnerships with Beijing, raising red flags in India’s intelligence and security community.

The trust and confidence between the two neighboring countries have further slid, after Delhi came to know that the Interim Government has courted investment and defense cooperation with China and Pakistan — two nations New Delhi regards as strategic antagonists.

During the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars in the eastern war theater, the Pakistan Army with air support never came to their heads to occupy the Siliguri Corridor in a bid to cut off North East from mainland India.

Military strategist believes such a foolish attempt to occupy the ‘chicken neck’ would have caused huge casualties of soldiers and military hardware, which would not have been practical.

The scenario of a bifurcated India has led to a doctrinal shift in India’s Eastern Command, which now prioritizes rapid response, multi-domain deterrence, and sustained forward deployment in and around the corridor.

India has consistently rejected China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), warning that it enables the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to embed dual-use infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific, which will undermine sovereignty and military balance in the region.

In response to these converging threats, India has activated its S-400 batteries in the Siliguri region and has reinforced its tactical aviation presence by deploying a squadron of French-built Rafale multirole fighters to nearby Hashimara Airbase.

Bangladesh has a couple of squadron ageing Russian MiG-29 and Chinese Chengdu F-7 fighter planes. Some of the planes are deployed in southeast Bangladesh, providing layered air dominance and enhancing its ability to respond swiftly to any hostile incursion from Myanmar.

Indian media published the procurement of a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, operated by Bangladesh forces, which has allegedly flown perilously close to the India-Bangladesh border. However, there was no official warning from Delhi to Dhaka for violation of airspace along the international border.

India has jittered after it learnt that Bangladesh is acquiring 32 JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, a fourth-generation multirole platform jointly developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) to replace its ageing combat aircraft.

The already strained bilateral relationship between India and Bangladesh has added fresh suspicion and distrust when a high-level Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials led by Major General Shahid Amir Asfar visited Dhaka a few months ago.

Promptly, India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a carefully worded statement, noting that the government is “closely monitoring all developments in the region” and would respond appropriately to any threats to national security. “We are vigilant about all regional movements and actions that may affect national security. The Indian government will act decisively as needed,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

India’s recalibration of its defense posture in the Siliguri Corridor reflects not only its growing apprehensions over regional power shifts but also its determination to harden its eastern front against a potential two-front scenario involving China and Pakistan – both now drawing closer to Dhaka, concluded Defense Security Asia. Another article in the Economic Times was published with a self-explanatory headline: India to build underground nuclear submarine fortress to counter China as Bangladesh offers air base to Beijing near Chicken Neck.

India is quietly nearing the commissioning of a strategically significant naval base near the village of Rambilli, tucked into the Andhra Pradesh coastline, about 50 km south of the Eastern Naval Command headquarters in Visakhapatnam.

Built as part of the classified Project Varsha, the Rambilli facility means these vessels can slip into the Bay of Bengal undetected by enemy satellites — especially those operated by China — and head towards the strategic Malacca Strait and beyond for deterrent patrols.

India’s moves come at a time of heightened concern about Chinese military presence in the Bay of Bengal. Though the Chinese jets have not been stationed in India’s eastern neighborhood, even the possibility raises eyebrows.

India’s security concerns in this region are already amplified by China’s expanding presence in the Indian Ocean and infrastructure projects across South Asia.

Prestigious, The Economic Times, concludes that while submarines patrol the deep and airfields rise near borders, one thing is clear – India is preparing, quietly but firmly, for the long game.

Amid the host of defense preparations to engage China in the Bay of Bengal a make-believe airbase in Lalmonirhat, last week India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar while emphasizing that New Delhi is troubled over the recent turn of events in Bangladesh and the support that the ruling dispensation is giving to radical elements in the neighbor said: “No other country wishes well for Bangladesh more than India.” The welcome note did not bring a smile to Dhaka.

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 12 April 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Ahmadiyya Muslims, Religious Freedom and Bangladesh Constitution

SALEEM SAMAD

When the Muslims in Bangladesh attack the Adivasis or ethnic communities, we remain silent. When the Muslims attack the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists, we remain silent. When they attack the Ahmadiyya Muslims, we again remain silent.

If you ask any persons from among the majoritarian Sunni Muslims, they spontaneously argue that Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims. If you ask again whether the person is a good or bad Muslim? There is silence for a few seconds and after a heave of sigh, that person would say, how do I know, only Allah determines.

The Holy Quran says a day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and time will end. The dead will be resurrected for judgment by the All Mighty. This day is the Day of Judgment where people will be rewarded by the Supreme Creator according to their beliefs and deeds.

More than a year ago, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a press conference in defence of religious freedom and tolerance said if Muslims believe in the Last Day of Judgment then a Muslim shouldn’t point their finger towards someone who is a good Muslim or a bad Muslim.

The video clip of the statement was broadcast from all TV channels in Bangladesh and is available on YouTube, where she rebukes the Islamist and radicalised Muslims, who have sworn to eliminate a certain community or religious practitioners (not naming any Muslim sect), should be banished from Islam.

The radicalised Muslims and Islamists have attacked, vandalised and desecrated hundreds of places of worship, shops and homes of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and of course the Adivasis soon after the birth of Bangladesh.

Adivasi leaders often lament the grabbing of lands and forcible occupation of their properties by influential local persons who are affiliated with the ruling parties – whichever party remains in power.

None of the perpetrators listened to the music of justice. They enjoyed impunity and they remain free from justice, which is frustrating for human rights organisations.

Ahmadiyya, a Muslim sect is members of a minority community and are spread all over Bangladesh since the beginning of the twentieth century. 

The Ahmadiyya are conservative Sunni Muslims and are tolerant of other faiths and practitioners. They regularly hold inter-faith dialogues in their mosques, which prompted the radicalised Muslims to reject that their place of worship is a mosque.

The Islamist and conservative Sunni Muslims demand that the government should banish Ahmadiyya from Islam. The call was purportedly raised by Jamaat-e-Islami founder Abul Ala Maududi in 1953, leading to the bloody atrocities which killed more than 2,000 Ahmadis in Lahore, Pakistan.

Jamaat-e-Islami during Khaleda Zia’s regime in the mid-90s proposed a blasphemy law to punish the Ahmadiyya and secularists. Incidentally, the proposed bill was a photocopy of the blasphemy law of Pakistan.

The [Ahmadiyya] fate was further sealed by Pakistan’s military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, when he issued the anti-Ahmadiyya law on 26 April 1984, which prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs.

Not to anybody's surprise, Pakistan’s abandoned orphans [the Mullahs] born in Bangladesh are demanding similar repressive laws to ban and punish the ‘heretic’ Ahmadiyyas.

The radicalised Islamic groups including the Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat, and of course Hefazat-e-Islam believe the Ahmadiyya are heretic and demands that the sect should be banned and declared ‘non-Muslim’ like Pakistan in September 1974.

A few years ago, the Islamist protesters in Panchagarh invited Hefazat-e-Islam leader Allama Shah Ahmad Shafi on a chartered helicopter from his base in Hathazari, Chattagram and warned the government, the civil and police administrations not to cooperate with the Ahmadiyya Muslim in holing the ‘Salana Jalsha’ (annual congregation) at their Ahmadnagar complex.

During the last three decades, the Islamists attacked and vandalised the members of Ahmadiyya properties and mosques in Brahmanbaria, Dhaka, Gazipur, Jashore, Khulna, Kushtia, Natore, Rajshahi, Satkhira, Sherpur and elsewhere, according to news published in media.

Ahmadiyya management had to postpone and cancel their annual congregation several times due to opposition of the minority Islamists in the last 32 years, minus the mainstream majoritarian Muslims who believe in Sufism and are tolerant.

The recurrence of the cancellation of Jalsha, no doubt were instigated by the Islamist groups and not surprising the district and police administration bowed down to the vile threats of the Islamist.

The recent flare-up of the racial riot in Panchagarh after Friday's Jumma prayer (3 March) became violent after police attempted to disperse the militant protesters, which turned berserk.

Local journalists said after eight hours the paramilitary Borders Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and elite police force RAB were deployed. The delay caused to deaths of 2 persons including an Ahmadi.

More than 100 homes of the Ahmadiyya community were torched, vandalised and looted, claimed Ahmed Tabshir Chowdhury, an Ahmadiyya leader who was at the complex during the riot.

Hefazat-e-Islam promptly said the non-Muslim [meaning Ahmadiyya] should not have been given permission to hold the Jalsha and instead blamed the Qadiyani [slang for Ahmadiyya] for the unrest.

The following day agitation was further fuelled by rumours by a group of young people, local journalists claim that they are from a madrassa.

The Ahmadiyya families in Panchagarh have fled their homes for safety and are living in fear.

According to a thought-provoking article published in the Dhaka Tribune writes, the Constitution of Bangladesh, which recognises Islam as the state religion, also ensures the rights of all other religions, irrespective of race, caste, sex or place of birth.

According to Article 28 (1) of the Constitution, the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

Moreover, Article 41 states that (a) every citizen has the right to profess, practise or propagate any religion; (b) every religious community or denomination has the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions.

As per Article 44 (1), a citizen can move to the High Court if his/her religious freedom is violated.

Despite bifurcating after a brutal war of independence in 1971 to establish a nation based on democracy, secularism, pluralism, equality and social justice, the ghost of the Islamic state of Pakistan seems to have rested on the shoulders of Bangladesh Mullahs.

Sunni Muslims commonly know that Ahmadiyya does not believe in the last Prophet of Islam. Secondly, the Quran of Ahmadiyya has been distorted. Thirdly, their prayers are not following Muslim practitioners. Finally, the interpretation of Islam follows the propaganda of the Jews and Christians.

The Ahmadiyyas are funded by Zionists and instigated against the Muslims and their Headquarters is located in Israel. The list of conspiracy theories lengthens.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim’s headquarters in London has the largest collection of translated copies of the Quran in more than 70 languages, also in Hebrew and Chinese [both Mandarin and Cantonese].

Despite the negative campaign and conspiracy theories agog in social media, the Ahmadiyyas are growing, spreading and shining all over the world. An estimated 10 million Ahmadis are living around the world, in more than 200 countries.

In Cuba, where religious practices were a social taboo, the Ahmadiyyas have their footprint and boast the establishment of their first mosque in Havana – in near future in China and North Korea.

First published in The News Times, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 5 March 2023

Saleem Samad, is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad