Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has gifted Pakistan’s Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza a book, the cover of which bears a map showing some Indian territories as part of Bangladesh.
As per the details, General Mirza on Monday met Yunus in Dhaka where both sides underscored the significance of strengthening bilateral defence and security cooperation.
With the meeting ending, Yunus gifted the CJCSC a coffee table book titled ‘Art of Triumph, Graffiti of Bangladesh’s New Dawn’. A now-viral photograph of the presentation, however, did not sit well with Indians as they pointed out that the map printed on the cover of the book showed India’s northeastern states as part of “Greater Bangladesh”.
More Bangladesh-India drama. “Yunus…has created a controversy after gifting a senior Pakistan Army general a book that has a distorted map of his country on its cover. The map shows the northeastern states of India as part of Bangladesh.”https://t.co/7IS8u7JJuH
— Derek J. Grossman (@DerekJGrossman) October 27, 2025
While India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not yet issued an official reaction, it may be noted that a strong protest was lodged by the ministry last December when a similar map was used by a key aide of the interim setup in Bangladesh.
Mahfuz Alam had posted on Facebook a map purportedly showing parts of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam as parts of Bangladesh, deleting the post after it triggered backlash.
At the time, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had reminded all concerned to be “mindful” of their public comments.
“We have taken this up with the Bangladeshi government. We have strongly registered a protest on this issue. We understand that the post being referred to has reportedly been taken down,” he had said.
Earlier this year, Yunus had also referred to India’s northeast region as landlocked and invited China to expand in the region by propagating Bangladesh as “Guardian of the Ocean”, drawing a sharp response from India and rebuke from Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi.