The overpopulated Muslim-majority country of Bangladesh has been under militant Islamist strain for the past year, with Daesh claiming responsibility for several high-profile terrorist attacks since last fall. The author forecast in an article last year for Sputnik how this South Asian country might turn into a new terrorist hotspot in the coming future, one which would immediately jeopardize the stability of India and pose a critical threat to the already restive North-eastern Provinces. One of the driving factors contributing to an even more uncertain future in the country is the political rivalry between Bangladesh’s two main parties, with each accusing the other of stoking unrest for political gains. 

It objectively appears as though the Saudi-friendly (and possibly American-allied) opposition group might be working with these and other terrorists in order to undermine the government and create the conditions for a ‘democratic’ or violent regime change, so with such motivating factors, it’s not predicted that the terrorist threat will go away anytime soon. 

Rather, the more unstable that Bangladesh becomes the more that it descends from a secular republic into an Islamic state, the greater its strategic utility becomes in being used as a tool of pressure or geopolitical blackmail against India. Bangladesh is also a key Chinese partner on the New Silk Road, so its domestic problems will by extent lead to international repercussions for Chinese grand strategy. If Bangladesh does indeed turn into Bangla-Daesh, then it might predictably throw the whole South Asian region into turmoil and affect all Bengali-inhabited areas even outside of its own borders (West Bengal, Tripura, and Rakhine State). 

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