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Pakistan Army plans to return to Bangladesh for the first time since 1971

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Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury

, ET BureauLast Updated: Dec 29, 2024, 09:04:00 AM IST

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For the first time since 1971, Pakistan Army will train Bangladesh Army starting February 2025 in Mymensingh cantonment and other locations. The cooperation agreement raised concerns of anti-India indoctrination. Training will be conducted by Maj Gen rank officers from Pakistan, introduced during the Yunus regime.

New Delhi: In what may send alarm bells ringing in the Indian establishment Pakistan Army for the first time since 1971 has reached an agreement with Bangladesh to train its Army beginning February 2025.

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The training will be conducted in four cantonments of Bangladesh Army beginning with Mymensingh cantonment in February, ET has reliably learnt. Mymensingh houses training and doctrine command headquarters of the Bangladesh Army. Sources alleged that Maj Gen rank officers from Pakistan may train Bangladesh Army officers.

The agreement for cooperation between Armies of Pakistan and Bangladesh was reached in the backdrop of the Yunus regime's effort to improve ties with Islamabad. The first training module guided by the Pakistan Army could last for a year. The proposal to Bangladesh was offered by Pakistan Army's Joint Chief of Staff Committee chairman Gen S Samshad Mirza.

This has raised apprehensions of indoctrination of Bangladesh Army with anti-India ideology that was diluted over the years following the induction of officers born in Bangladesh and under the Awami League rule.

Pakistan trained officers continued to hold leadership positions in the Bangladesh Army for the first two decades after the country's independence. The list included Gen Ziaur Rahman and Lt Gen HM Ershad both of whom went on to become Presidents. That exercise ensured anti-India doctrine being advocated by the Bangladesh Army till it got diluted.

Ershad, however, was also an alumni of India's National Defence College and maintained cordial links with the political leadership here.

The leadership of the Bangladesh Army “perceived” to be close to Awami League and Sheikh Hasina are being targeted by the current regime with cases being filed against them.

Presence of the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh also creates a challenge for Northeastern states which are landlocked and are vulnerable.

Meanwhile, explosives have reportedly reached Bangladesh from Pakistan through that second ship that entered Chittagong Port last Friday. The containers containing explosives were unearthed when local authorities launched a search -operation on the cargo of the ship. Port authorities are now ascertaining the motive of the cargo containing explosives.

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