Islam’s role in Bangladesh–Pakistan Alignment against India under the BNP’s Rule

Abstract

This article engages with Bangladesh’s policy of seeking alignment with Pakistan, pursued by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government in different tenures from the 1990s on. In this endeavour, the article takes into account the BNP’s politics of Islamic identity as a key variable of analysis. This identity factor tacitly presents Bangladesh, Pakistan and India as ‘Muslim Bangladesh’, ‘Muslim Pakistan’, and ‘Hindu India’, respectively. It frames ‘Muslim Pakistan’ as a mutual ally of ‘Muslim Bangladesh’ and shares with Pakistan a view of ‘Hindu India’ as the enemy-other. It operates in foreign policy through domestic politics in Bangladesh, wherein for the BNP, being anti-Indian is synonymous with being pro-Islam. It is claimed in this article that this politics of Islamic identity draws Bangladesh into an alignment with Pakistan, dragging Bangladesh into Pakistan’s own conflict with India.