Demand for return to East Pakistan, led by Yunus-Azmi, growing in Islamabad, Dhaka

After the Awami League government was overthrown by the clique of Islamist parties, the Bangladesh Army, and the West-backed student force, Dr Muhammad Yunus began rebuilding ties with Pakistan and strengthening Jamaat-e-Islami.

Analysts say that Yunus is slowly working to take Bangladesh back to the East Pakistan era by eliminating the Awami League from the political arena, undermining the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War, and establishing mobocracy.

The anticipation gets further footing as the Dhaka-Delhi relations worsen, and ties with Islamabad with regard to diplomacy, trade and defense collaboration become the interim government’s key priority.

Meanwhile, pro-Jamaat Lt Gen Faizur Rahman, the Quarter Master General (QMG) of the Bangladesh Army, went to Pakistan on Saturday (August 16) to bolster ties with Islamabad and the ISI. This visit has remained unreported in local media.

Earlier, Lt Gen Kamrul Hasan, the Principal Staff Officer to the Chief Adviser, visited Pakistan a number of times and held secret meetings with many Pakistani officials, including the Pakistan Army Chief Syed Asim Munir and ISI chief Lt Gen Asim Malik, with the aim of reconnecting the East Pakistan front.

The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba have termed the fall of the secular Awami League government as revenge for the defeat in 1971.

An Islamabad-based newspaper, The CatchLine, describes this changeover as an opportunity for reunification of Pakistan and return of East Pakistan—a hope also expressed by some advisers of the interim government and leaders of the King’s party, the National Citizen Party (NCP)—the brainchild of Yunus.

After capturing power, Yunus declared that they had pushed the “reset button,” while NCP Convener Nahid Islam repeatedly said this government rejects Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of the Nation.

Meanwhile, pro-government groups have celebrated the birth and death anniversaries of Pakistan’s founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, while Jamaat has commemorated its top leaders who were handed down punishment for their crimes in 1971.

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The Nobel laureate’s father, Dula Mia Saudagor—a Razakar in Chattogram—was a diehard supporter of the Pakistan Movement and a member of the Muslim League National Guard.

Goldsmith Dula Mia celebrated the partition of India and creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, with immense enthusiasm, while Yunus, then 7, said that the roaring slogan of “Pakistan Zindabad” resounded again and again from every part of Chittagong. It was the “first shot of pride and intoxicating enthusiasm for our people I had felt in my veins,” Yunus writes in his book Banker to the Poor.

Pakistan loyalists

In a column featured in The CatchLine on August 16, Tabassum Moazzam Khan termed Bangabandhu a “traitor,” and said that “under the directives of his Indian masters, he pushed the region towards Hindu dominance by sidelining Muslims and patriotic Pakistanis.”

The column hails Bangabandhu’s assassination by a “group of patriotic army officers” and credits General Ziaur Rahman for rebuilding ties with West Pakistan and countering India’s influence.

Military strongman Gen Zia, the founder of the BNP, is accused of hanging several thousand freedom fighter officers in the army and air force in kangaroo trials.

It says General Hussain Muhammad Ershad “demonstrated moments of loyalty towards Pakistan—one notable example being his intervention in the case of Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, son of Pakistan’s hero and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Prof. Ghulam Azam.”

Azmi, who was commissioned into the Bangladesh Army in 1981, faced “hostility from anti-Pakistan elements and Bengali Hindus, who questioned his eligibility since he and his father were still Pakistani citizens at the time. When the matter escalated, Prof. Ghulam Azam approached Ershad, who resolved the issue smoothly.”

Ershad was an army officer who repatriated from Pakistan after liberation, while Ghulam Azam, the key leader of collaborators of the genocidal Pakistan Army, returned to Bangladesh after General Zia seized power since Jamaat had been banned in independent Bangladesh.

During the tenure of Bangabandhu, Ghulam Azam campaigned against Bangladesh from Pakistan and urged Muslim countries not to recognise Bangladesh.

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The column says that Amaan Azmi, for being much like his father, has always been a staunch patriot of Pakistan. “He has publicly declared multiple times that he does not recognise the constitution, national anthem, or flag of Bangladesh, rejecting the infiltration of Bengali Hindu culture—particularly the imposition of festivals like Pohela Boishakh. He has consistently condemned the Mukti Bahini and their anti-Pakistan propaganda, defending the honour of the Pakistan Army.”

The columnist said that from 1981 onwards, Azmi “quietly nurtured a vision: to reclaim East Pakistan from Indian influence and restore it as part of Pakistan.”

Tabassum Moazzam Khan writes that on June 24, 2009, as the “proven pawn of India,” Sheikh Hasina, assumed power, she “abruptly dismissed Brigadier Azmi from military service. Thereafter, the family endured years of persecution under her regime.”

The column alleges that Sheikh Hasina “worked tirelessly to cement Indian control over Bangladesh, effectively turning it into a satellite state of New Delhi. However, in a dramatic turn of events, mass Muslim-led protests—spearheaded by Jamaat-e-Islami and Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus—forced Hasina to flee to India on 5 August last year, where she was granted asylum.”

It claims that by overthrowing the Awami League government, Bangladesh was freed from the clutches of Indian hegemony, and Dr. Yunus rescinded the dismissal order against Brigadier Azmi on December 27, 2024, and he retired with full benefits.

“But this was no true justice. A man of Azmi’s calibre deserves reinstatement, promotion to a four-star general, and appointment as Chief of the Bangladesh Army. If that is not feasible, Dr. Yunus should appoint him as both National Security Adviser and Defense Adviser—roles in which his strategic vision and loyalty to Pakistan would be invaluable.”

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The column adds: “For over half a century, Pakistan has carried the wound of 1971—a scar etched into our national consciousness by Indian subversion and betrayal from within. Today, the geopolitical tides are shifting, and a unique window has opened for Pakistan to reclaim its honour and strategic depth in the east. The reinstatement and empowerment of patriots like Abdullahil Amaan Azmi is not merely symbolic—it is the first step towards reversing decades of humiliation. Pakistan must act decisively, working hand in hand with allies in Dhaka to ensure that East Pakistan is restored to its rightful place in the federation. History will not forgive hesitation; the time to act is now.”

Azmi’s dark plan

The article hails Azmi at a time when The Daily Republic, as well as reputed media outlets like the Anandabazar Patrika, suggest that he has been engaged in implementing a blueprint of destabilising the Bangladesh Army and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

Azmi, who appeared in the scene on August 7 last year after eight years, is secretly preparing suicide squads with Ansar al-Islam jihadists to stage coordinated attacks in India as part of a blueprint made by the Pakistani elements.

Intelligence sources say that Azmi is recruiting Rohingya refugees and stranded Pakistanis for training under the third mission.

Azmi is closely collaborating with some pro-Pakistani retired and sacked army officers to carry out the plans. In addition, the Pakistani ISI officials are regularly visiting Bangladesh, as it has already established an office in Dhaka’s Mohakhali DOHS area.

The former Awami League government banned Jamaat because of its covert terrorist activities and for masterminding the July-August riots, which aimed to unseat the government under the pretense of a student-led uprising against the quota system in public service.

In many countries, the Jamaat is banned since it is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. This radical Islamist party is also affiliated with CAIR, or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group funded by Jamaat.

Through these channels, Azmi has gained influence in the army to implement the plans of the Pakistani Army and ISI.

Lately, a ship carrying weapons and explosives arrived directly from Karachi port during the last week of July. This consignment was secretly offloaded under the direct supervision of the Bangladesh Army and later transported to the Ramu area of Cox’s Bazar. It is believed that this is one of the consignments sent by the United States for the Arakan Army in collaboration with the ISI.

Moreover, Pakistan has sent cocaine inside consignments of sugar to Bangladesh since the ships are not inspected as per a special order of the Yunus regime.

Mission 1: IRI

One of the aides of Azmi is Brigadier General (Retd) Mohammad Hassan Nasir, who was declared persona non grata in the Bangladesh Army recently. Sources say Azmi and Nasir are trying to create chaos in the army. Through these actions, they aim to destroy the army and the DGFI while establishing the IRI under Nasir’s leadership.

Apart from Jamaat-Shibir and AB Party, some leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP) are part of this master plan, which began soon after the fall of the Awami League government last August.

Second mission

Azmi is openly sheltering Major (expelled) Syed Ziaul Haque in various ways, as the latter returned to Bangladesh last December with a Pakistani passport after being in hiding since January 2012. He has also admitted to participating in the ouster of the Awami League in 2024.

Zia, who professes an Islamic army, is the son-in-law of the government’s commission for investigating the incidents of enforced disappearance.

A top leader of al-Qaeda’s South Asia wing, Ansar al-Islam, Zia and Azmi are working together to provide commando training to the jihadists as suicide squad members. This group will work inside India and carry out sabotage, the intelligence sources say.

In December, Zia applied to the government for withdrawal of the seven cases against him, in which he was sentenced to death in three, while four cases are under trial. Through his lawyer, the jihadist leader also applied for cancellation of the Tk20 lakh bounty declared on him by the Police Headquarters, according to The Daily Star.

On the other hand, through a self-styled investigative reporter affiliated with Al Jazeera, Zulkarnain Saer Khan Sami, Zia pleaded to the State Department to withdraw the $5 million reward for information on him and Akram Hossain, two fugitives who were given death sentences for the terrorist attack on two Americans—Avijit Roy and his wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed—on February 26, 2015.

Most recently, the State Department has quietly removed the bounty notice from its website.

Both Azmi and Zia have been provided support by Mohammad Faizur Rahman, who was made DG of DGFI after the changeover because of his family connections to the Jamaat. Faizur was later promoted to Leuitanant General and made Quarter Master General (QMG).

Zia also asked the army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, to reinstate him and award him the gallantry award “Bir Uttam” for his role in the coup attempts in 2011 and 2024.

Intelligence sources say Azmi is helping Zia obtain a clean chit by putting pressure on the army chief, DGFI officials, and the Jamaat-backed Yunus regime. In the past year, the interim government released many top jihadists, including Ansar al-Islam cleric Jasimuddin Rahmani, while several hundred militants went into hiding after jailbreaks during the July-August riots.

Earlier this week, Zia asked the Yunus regime to allow offices for the rebels of Manipur, Khalistan, and Kashmir in Dhaka, after BBC Bangla reported that the Awami League maintains an office in India—a claim rejected by the party.

Zia also warned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the Awami League leaders and activists currently staying in India may forge a tie with the BJP.

Mission 3

As part of the third mission, Azmi has got ISI agent Lt Col Hasinur Rahman as his second-in-command to recruit Rohingya refugees staying in Cox’s Bazar camps and the stranded Pakistanis in Dhaka and elsewhere and give them jihadist training, the sources say.

Hasinur served jail terms for several years during the Awami League tenure on sedition charges and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

For this mission, Azmi is being assisted by the Pakistani High Commissioner, Syed Ahmed Maroof, who travelled to Cox’s Bazar several times to sit with the top leaders of militant groups Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Islami Mahaz, and Arakan National Defence Force (ANDF) in December, February, and May.