Bangladesh’s interim head Muhammad Yunus has stoked a fresh controversy after he gifted a distorted map showing India’s northeast region as part of Bangladesh to Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairperson, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. In the controversial map, Assam and other northeastern states were shown as part of Bangladesh.

The incident happened during the visit of Pak’s General Sahir Shamshad Mirza to Dhaka over the weekend. There, he met Yunus aiming to better the ties between the two countries, which has been sour since the 1971 Liberation War.

Sharing the photos on X, the official handle of Chief Adviser of Government of Bangladesh said Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Sahir Shamshad Mirza met Muhammad Yunus.

“During the meeting, they discussed a wide range of issues concerning Bangladesh–Pakistan relations, including growing importance of bilateral trade, investment, and defence cooperation,” the statement added.

This was not the first time when Yunus has irked India while referring to the country’s northeast region.

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Yunus repeated reference to India’s northeast

This was not the first time when Yunus has irked India while referring to the country’s northeast region. The Nobel laureate previously made references to India’s “landlocked” northeastern states during engagements with foreign nations. He called Bangladesh the “only guardian of the ocean“.

“The seven states of India, the eastern part of India… they are a landlocked country. They have no way to reach out to the ocean,” Yunus had told Chinese officials during his trip there in April.

Yunus’s remarks triggered outrage in India. The government then had also cancelled a transhipment agreement that allowed Bangladeshi goods to move through Indian territory en route to Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar.

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Radical preacher Zakir Naik in Bangladesh

In yet another key development, reports say that Radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik will receive a grand welcome in Bangladesh during his scheduled visit next month. Mohammad Yunus is reportedly planning a welcome for Naik, who is known to make controversial remarks and is banned in several countries.

Notably, Zakir Naik was banned in Bangladesh after the 2016 terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka. Islamist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had killed 20 people, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American, and an Indian in the attack.

However, the Bangladesh government rolling out red carpet for same Zakir Naik has drawn sharp criticism from many. Naik’s reported visit will come months after his trip to Pakistan in February this year.