In a provocative and incendiary statement that underscores Bangladesh’s shifting geopolitical tone post-Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August last year, A.L.M. Fazlur Rahman, former Director General of the now-renamed Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and currently serving as Mumahhad Yunus-led govt’s Chairperson of the National Independent Commission of Inquiry probing the 2009 BDR mutiny, publicly advocated for military aggression against India and a strategic alliance with China.

In a Facebook post made visible to all users on Thursday, Rahman asserted that if India were to launch a military offensive against Pakistan, Bangladesh should retaliate by occupying the seven northeastern states of India. He further urged Dhaka to initiate talks with Beijing regarding a joint military arrangement to prepare for such a scenario.

“If India attacks Pakistan, Bangladesh should seize India’s northeastern region. A coordinated military pact with China is essential under such circumstances,” Rahman, who is known to have close ties with Pakistan’s infamous intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The post, which bears unmistakable signs of a warlike declaration, was endorsed by Shahnawaz Khan Chandan, a fellow commission member and former leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Chandan, now an assistant professor at Jagannath University in Dhaka, reportedly liked the post, lending intellectual and ideological backing to Rahman’s inflammatory proposal.

Rahman’s Stance Comes Between India-Pak Tensions

Rahman’s remarks arrive amid surging Indo-Pak tensions in the aftermath of the Pahelgam massacre, and they mark an alarming escalation in the rhetoric emerging from figures linked to the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. This administration has notably adopted a more confrontational posture toward New Delhi since replacing Hasina regime.

In his post, Rahman further launched a blistering critique of India’s domestic policies, particularly the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which he described as a sinister conspiracy to detain, disenfranchise and expel Muslims into Bangladesh and Pakistan. He also denounced the amended Waqf Act, calling it a covert effort to shut down mosques across India.

Doubling down on his militaristic rhetoric, Rahman wrote: “The capture of India’s seven northeastern states in concert with China would constitute a legitimate regional and global counter-response to any Indian aggression against Pakistan.”

He concluded his post with a pointed rebuke aimed at critics and skeptics: “Those who lack the necessary expertise in military strategy should refrain from making irrelevant comments on matters of such strategic gravity.”

Rahman and the 1999 BDR-BSF Clash: A Dark Chapter in India-Bangladesh ties

In 1999, a grim episode unfolded along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura and Assam’s Barak Valley that would severely strain diplomatic ties between the two neighboring nations. At the center of the controversy was Major General Rahman, then serving as the Director General of the BDR—now known as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

Under General Rahman’s command, the BDR allegedly took an aggressive and unprecedented step. In what Indian intelligence sources later claimed was an operation influenced by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), BDR forces launched a unprovoked brutal offensive that resulted in the killing several personnel of the Border

Security Force (BSF). This incident, often referred to in Indian security circles as a massacre, shocked New Delhi and created a diplomatic firestorm.

India viewed the attack not merely as a border skirmish but as a deliberate act of provocation, allegedly orchestrated with foreign backing. The Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, which was in power at the time, came under immediate pressure from India to take responsibility and act. Amid mounting diplomatic tensions, Rahman was promptly removed from his post as DG of the BDR by the Hasina administration in an effort to de-escalate the crisis and restore bilateral trust.

However, the fallout continued. When the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to power later, the new government went further and dismissed Rahman from service altogether, distancing itself from his controversial actions and sending a signal to India of its intention to reset relations.

This episode remains one of the most serious incidents in the history of India-Bangladesh relations since Bangladesh’s independence. It exposed the fragility of trust along the shared border and the geopolitical vulnerabilities that continue to influence South Asian security dynamics.