Bangladesh Risks Identity Crisis as Yunus Courts Pakistan, Rewrites History
World
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Firstpost•31-01-2026, 07:52
Bangladesh Risks Identity Crisis as Yunus Courts Pakistan, Rewrites History
- •Bangladesh's upcoming national election and its warming ties with Pakistan are raising concerns about the nation's historical identity.
- •Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus's interim government is accused of rewriting school textbooks, downplaying Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's role in the 1971 Liberation War and promoting Ziaur Rahman.
- •The 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh was founded on secularism and Bengali linguistic nationalism, a direct rejection of Pakistan's Islam and Urdu-centric identity.
- •The article highlights a historical pendulum in Bangladesh's politics between secular, language-based nationalism and an Islamic identity with strategic distance from India.
- •Critics fear that softening the narrative of 1971 and engaging with Pakistan without a formal apology risks ideological regression and the re-entry of forces Bangladesh fought to escape.
Why It Matters: Bangladesh's current political shifts and engagement with Pakistan threaten its foundational secular and linguistic identity.
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