How Bangladeshi army is the next target of Yunus’s jihadist regime

Bangladesh today is at a perilous crossroads. Behind the façade of reform and Nobel prestige, Muhammad Yunus and his regime— dominated by Islamist-jihadist elements—are systematically dismantling the very institutions that safeguard national sovereignty. The Army, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), and the country’s counterterrorism agencies are being directly targeted through propaganda, legal harassment, and carefully designed purges.

The ultimate objective is nothing short of replacing Bangladesh’s armed forces with a new Islamist military order modelled after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and supported by an Iranian-style intelligence network.

Behind the polished image of a reformer, Yunus has surrounded himself with Islamist elements and jihadist sympathisers. His government increasingly resembles Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey: suppressing critical journalists while Islamist radicals—including al-Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir affiliates—operate with growing freedom.

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The Yunus regime’s rise must also be seen in the broader geopolitical context. Saudi Arabia has recently deepened its defence ties with Pakistan, a development that risks importing Islamabad’s toxic intelligence playbook into the Kingdom.

The Associated Press has noted that Riyadh has historically funded Pakistan’s nuclear programme, and the recent defence pact enables the Kingdom to seek Pakistan’s “nuclear umbrella” amid rising tensions with Iran. Yet this arrangement is fraught with dangers. Pakistan’s decades-old ties with Iran make it a potential conduit for Iranian infiltration inside Saudi Arabia.

In my opinion, although the Saudi rulers may feel delighted with this new arrangement, it overlooks several crucial factors. First, Islamabad has decades-old, deep-rooted relations with Tehran, and its renewed ties with Riyadh could open the door for Iran to expand its espionage network within the Kingdom through active collaboration with Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

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At the same time, Pakistan—a country grappling with acute economic crises—may push the Kingdom towards the fate of Afghanistan, where Pakistan’s infiltration ultimately turned the country into a rogue state and epicentre of Islamist terror. Furthermore, this development could mark the beginning of a silent regime change plot that might one day end monarchism and create an atmosphere of anarchy and chaos. With these troubling prospects in mind, Saudi Arabia and its ruling elites may well have committed a historic blunder—one that could spell the beginning of the end of a century of monarchism in the Kingdom.

For Islamabad—crippled by economic crises—mere financial perks from Riyadh will not suffice. Pakistan’s military-intelligence establishment thrives on exporting instability. Instead, Islamabad is likely to push the Kingdom into an alarming situation by collaborating with Islamists and jihadists while simultaneously increasing the threats from Iran by secretly providing Tehran with sensitive information about Saudi Arabia.

In time, it could push Saudi Arabia towards the fate of Afghanistan—an arena of Islamist chaos where Pakistan was the chief manipulator. The monarchy may have unwittingly paved the way for its own destabilisation.

Targeting the Army and DGFI

Now as Pakistan thrives on instability, at the heart of this strategy is a campaign against Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the Bangladeshi army. For decades, DGFI has been the main bulwark against violent extremism. It dismantled training camps of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), cracked down on Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI-B), and Ansar al-Islam, and disrupted ISI-linked terrorist networks.

For Islamist groups, DGFI and the army represent the biggest obstacles to their expansion. Yunus’ regime has already filed “crimes against humanity” charges against former DGFI chiefs and is reportedly considering similar moves against Army Chief General Waker Uz Zaman. The ultimate objective is to weaken or dismantle the army and replace it with an “Islamic Revolutionary Army” modelled on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Schizophrenic Propaganda

Millions of dollars are being spent to smear Bangladesh’s armed forces through coordinated disinformation campaigns. Propaganda paints the army as corrupt and oppressive while portraying Islamist elements as defenders of justice. These tactics are designed to weaken public trust in the military and prepare the ground for radical restructuring.

This campaign is not just about power struggles within Bangladesh. It is part of a broader Islamist agenda to reshape the country’s identity and align it with extremist networks.

Regional and Global Risks

The destabilisation of Bangladesh’s army will have serious consequences beyond its borders. India will face heightened risks of cross-border terrorism and renewed insurgency in its northeast. Islamist radicalisation in West Bengal and Assam could escalate, undermining New Delhi’s internal security.

For South Asia as a whole, the Yunus regime’s Islamist tilt threatens to destabilise Nepal and Sri Lanka, while giving Pakistan new opportunities to use Bangladeshi soil for jihadist operations.

Globally, a weakened Bangladesh could emerge as a new jihadist hub on the Bay of Bengal, threatening maritime security and providing extremist groups a platform to project influence into Southeast Asia and beyond.

The Yunus regime’s campaign against the army and DGFI is not about reform—it is about dismantling Bangladesh’s defences and empowering Islamist radicals. If left unchecked, it could transform the country into another Afghanistan, destabilising the region and creating a new epicentre for global jihad.

This is not a matter of ignorance for South Asian neighbours of Bangladesh and the rest of the world, as what the Yunus regime is doing is about hijacking Bangladesh’s sovereignty and turning it into a base for jihadist militancy. For India, the risks are immediate. For the West, they are far-reaching.

The international community cannot afford silence. If Bangladesh’s army and DGFI fall, the consequences will echo across South Asia and beyond. Preventing this outcome requires urgency—because once extremists control the military, reversing the damage will be nearly impossible. For these reasons, India, the West, and international organisations must urgently recognise this threat and support Bangladesh’s legitimate security institutions. The cost of silence will not only be borne by Bangladesh but by the entire world.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an award-winning journalist, writer, and editor of the newspaper ‘Blitz’. He specialises in counterterrorism and regional geopolitics. Follow him on X: @Salah_Shoaib.