What Do the Sudden Visits of Influential Islamic Leaders from 3 Countries Mean During This Unstable Time in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh's politics is currently going through a period of instability surrounding the upcoming national election. The general public is awaiting the election amidst various factors: the fall of the long-influential and ruling Awami League and its ban from politics; the second largest party, the BNP, facing various controversies like extortion, murder, and rape cases involving its activists just as it prepares to re-emerge; the virtual inactivity of the Jatiya Party; controversies surrounding the formation of the new party, the NCP; and the gradual rise in influence of Islamic parties like Jamaat-e-Islami in the political arena.

Another issue that has stirred up the political scene ahead of the February 2026 election is the referendum on the July Charter. The July Charter (or July National Charter-2025) is a political document in Bangladesh that contains proposals for consensus-based democratic reforms in the country. It was formally signed by the National Consensus Commission and 25 political parties of Bangladesh at the South Plaza of the National Parliament on October 17, 2025.

Chief Advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, announced in an address to the nation that voters would cast 'Yes' or 'No' votes on a single question covering four issues. The timing of the referendum—whether it should be held before or on the day of the general election—had clearly caused political division in the country for days. Despite calls for the political parties to resolve this issue through discussion among themselves, no solution was reached.

Finally, the decision came directly from the head of the interim government. On Thursday, November 13th, the Chief Advisor announced the decision regarding the national election and the referendum in an address to the nation. The decision to hold the national election and the referendum on the same day has caused confusion among many of the country's 127,695,183 voters.

Additionally, in the lead-up to the election, every party is using its own style of campaigning and various methods to gain ground and win over voters. This includes frequent incidents of internal party conflict, as well as open and hidden acts of murder and terrorism.

Amidst all this, the International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity committed during the July-August mass uprising of last year. Security measures were tightened around the Tribunal and surrounding areas from the morning of Monday, November 17th, when the verdict was announced. Injured persons from the July-August movement, family members of those killed, and the student leaders of the July movement gathered at the court from the morning to hear the verdict.

Fifteen years after Sheikh Hasina formed the court in 2010 to try crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s War of Independence, the same court has now delivered the death sentence to the former Prime Minister, who has taken refuge in India.

Following the verdict, various statements have been published in newspapers both domestically and abroad. Different quarters have reacted. The dethroned Awami League and its associated organizations attempted, but failed, to cause nationwide sabotage in reaction to the verdict.

It is in the middle of this turbulent period that several influential religious speakers and top leaders of various organizations from India, Pakistan, and Nepal arrived in Bangladesh on November 11th. They have come to join rallies in Dhaka and various other districts across the country.

Among the leaders from neighboring countries already in Dhaka are Maulana Fazlur Rehman, President and Member of Parliament of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan, and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, the organization's Secretary General. They are accompanied by Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s son, Maulana Asad Mahmood, and two other leaders from Pakistan’s Jamiat. Asad Mahmood was previously Pakistan’s Communication Minister.

In addition, Maulana Syed Faisal Nadeem Shah, Director and religious speaker of Markazu Nadeemul Quran Madrasa in Rawalpindi, Pakistan; Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, Secretary General of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan; Dr. Ahmad Yusuf Binouri, Assistant Director of Yusuf Binouri Town Madrasa; Maulana Zubair Usmani, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Karachi; and Maulana Ilyas Ghumman, Chief of Markaz Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in Sargodha, Punjab, among others, are also currently in Bangladesh.

Also in Bangladesh at this time are Maulana Sayyid Mahmood Madani, President and former Member of Parliament of 'Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind' India; Maulana Khalid Siddiqui, President and Member of Parliament of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Nepal; Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, Director or Muhtamim of Darul Uloom Deoband Madrasa in India; and Maulana Sayyid Maudud Asad Madani.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan, arrived in Dhaka on an Emirates flight late Tuesday night (November 11th). He was welcomed at the airport by top leaders of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh, including President Maulana Ubaidullah Farooq, Senior Vice-President Abdur Rab Yusufi, and Secretary General Maulana Manzurul Islam Afendi.

Almost all of these Islamist leaders currently in Bangladesh are well-known in both religious and political circles. However, there are various controversies regarding the political activism of one or two of them.

Religious or political leaders of one country can certainly make goodwill visits to another country; there is nothing wrong with that. However, when analyzing the internal and historical relationships between Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, the matter ceases to be ordinary. It becomes suspicious, a potential ground for planting seeds of conspiracy, or a cover for a secret assignment masquerading as a goodwill trip.

The roots of this distrust are very old. For the sake of discussion, it is important to briefly shed some light on that history. The state of Pakistan was born with the partition of India in 1947 after the end of British rule. It was mainly composed of two separate Muslim-majority areas, formed based on the principle of the 'two-nation solution.' This state, made up of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), consisted of two separate territories that were geographically far from each other.

Subsequently, in protest against exploitation, oppression, and deprivation, the two parts of Pakistan split after a long, bloody conflict lasting nine months in 1971. The new state of Bangladesh was born, and Pakistan also gained a separate identity.

The time gap from 1971 to 2025 is a long period of about 54 years. In these 54 years, the entire world has advanced significantly in many areas, including science and knowledge. However, the relationship between Pakistan and either India or Bangladesh has not seen major improvement. Similarly, India has never given Bangladesh, being a smaller state, the respect it deserves as a neighbor, nor has it ever held back from exploiting it.

Essentially, a hodgepodge (mixed-up) situation has been created by the various actions of different political parties in Bangladesh. For instance, the deposed Awami League government was always pro-India. Conversely, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh opposed the independence of Bangladesh and the partition of Pakistan in 1971. Many activists of the party were accused of joining the paramilitary forces formed at that time, who were later charged with involvement in genocide.

When the government banned Jamaat from politics in 1972, the party leaders went into exile in Pakistan. Later, after the assassination of the first President, Sheikh Mujib, in 1975 and following several military coups, Major General Ziaur Rahman came to power in 1977 and lifted the ban on Jamaat. The party's activists were allowed to return, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was established in May 1979 under the leadership of the then highly influential Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Abbas Ali Khan.

The spiritual leader of Jamaat in all three countries—Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India—is India's Maulana Abul Ala Maududi. Therefore, the relationship between the Jamaat branches in these three countries is well known. Furthermore, leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami also acknowledge their relationships with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the AK Party in Turkey.

The Islamic parties have a connection with the Deobandi leaders of India. There is also strong communication there with the current Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. Recently, when the Taliban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, visited India, he went to and stayed at the Darul Uloom Deoband Madrasa in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh.

After the fall of the Awami League government in 2024, the relationship between Bangladesh's internal government and Pakistan has somewhat improved. Simultaneously, the relationship between Jamaat-e-Islami and various levels of leaders there has also become smoother. Therefore, many view the visit of religious leaders from India, Pakistan, and Nepal with suspicion ahead of the upcoming Bangladesh election.

There is controversy surrounding Maulana Ilyas Ghumman, who came from Pakistan. Ilyas Ghumman, the Chief of Markaz Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in Sargodha, Punjab, was arrested in 2005 on charges of being involved in the murder of Sargodha Divisional Commissioner Syed Tajammul Abbas. The following year, he was arrested again on charges of involvement in the murder of Shia cleric Bashir Hussain Bukhari.

Analysts consider the visit of top and influential leaders from neighboring countries to Dhaka to be significant given the current murky political situation in Bangladesh ahead of the upcoming national election. However, Jamiat-e-Ulema claims the leaders' visits are not organizational. They state that their leaders have come on entirely non-political trips.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman is considered a highly influential politician in Pakistan. He was invited by Maulana Abdul Hamid, the Ameer of the Khatme Nabuwwat Protection Committee Bangladesh and the Pir (Spiritual Leader) of Madhupur.

Regarding this, Maulana Hamid said, "We invited him for the November 15th program. There was a grand rally at Suhrawardy Udyan that day. The Pakistani guests will depart on the 19th, and the guests from Deoband (India) will leave even earlier."

There is discussion among those concerned that these prominent political leaders and speakers from neighboring countries have primarily come to Bangladesh to strengthen the anti-Qadiani movement. The 'International Khatme Nabuwwat Grand Conference' was held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on the morning of Saturday, November 15th. The conference was organized by the 'Combined Khatme Nabuwwat Council' to demand that the Qadiani community be officially declared non-Muslim by the state. The organization carried out extensive promotion for the conference both online and offline.

Maulana Ubaidullah Farooq, President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh, said, "The Jamiat leaders' visit to Bangladesh is not a party visit. The leaders came at the invitation of Maulana Abdul Hamid, the Pir of Madhupur. Pir Saheb of Madhupur personally invited them for the Suhrawardy Udyan conference. However, since they are Jamiat leaders, we received them at the airport. We have been and will continue to be with them at their various programs."

He further said, "Wherever there are followers of Deoband in the world, there is Jamiat. Organizationally, Bangladesh's Jamiat does not have a relationship with those in other countries, although personal contact exists. When we visit, they give us a reception; when they come, we organize various events. We do not have the same organizational relationship that Jamaat-e-Islami has with Jamaat in other countries."

Regarding the November 15th rally, Altaf Parvez, a researcher on the history and politics of Southeast Asia, said, "I myself am concerned. Concerned in the sense that these kinds of rallies only occur when the political situation in Southeast Asia is unstable. Instability, riots, and violence have also been created in Pakistan over this Ahmadiyya issue. There, Ahmadis were declared non-Muslim, but peace still did not come. It caused a lot of riots."

According to this analyst, "The groups who run this movement mysteriously appear during various periods of crisis and hold large rallies. This is the experience of Pakistan, and it happened in our country as well, during Khaleda Zia's era in 1991. Just as stability was returning to the country after the uprising, the anti-Ahmadiyya movement started. An organization called Khatme Nabuwwat runs this."

Altaf Parvez added, "These activities take place under the shadow of an umbrella body. The Qadianis or Ahmadis in Bangladesh are a small community, almost negligible. They have no significant presence in the country's politics or economy. Suddenly, a rally has been called using this as a pretext. Given that the current situation in Bangladesh is boiling every day, the government's permission to hold such a rally is surprising and mysterious."

In this regard, Dr. Lubna Ferdousi, a teacher and researcher living in England, posted a statement on Facebook. She mentioned, "We no longer have the simplicity to believe that the sudden presence of influential Islamist leaders from three neighboring countries, just as the national election in Bangladesh is approaching, is merely a religious trip. The political history of South Asia has repeatedly proven that movements based on religious identity never come alone, and they are never neutral; they always arrive with ambition as a strategic part of changing the regional balance of power."

She further mentioned, "Especially when a state is experiencing pre-election tensions, administrative weakness, and political instability, that is when the external Islamic network becomes most active. Pakistan, India, and Nepal are all perfect examples of this. And now, the situation in Bangladesh stands at the brink of the same fragility."

She stated, "Bangladesh's current administrative weakness and political tension are creating fertile ground for this type of movement. If this were merely a preaching tour, religious networks from the Middle East or Southeast Asia would also be involved. But, coincidentally, only three states are involved—all of which are currently using political Islam as a strategic tool. This pattern is by no means innocent; it is an indication of regional alignment."

She pointed out, "Our concern lies exactly there: our state machinery is weak, society is divided, and political heat is rising. When regional political Islamic forces converge and hold a rally in Dhaka amidst all this, it is a strategy to create organized political polarization that directly challenges the state's administrative capacity. This is especially true when local Islamic parties are directly involved in this trip from the airport to the rallies, and the focus of the discussion is the anti-Ahmadiyya narrative, which is the most weaponized communal issue in this region. There is no room to deny that this visit is profoundly political."

Finally, she mentioned, "May the land of Bangladesh not become a laboratory for regional religious geopolitics! May the country not stand at the edge of a fire pit!"

Indeed, the nation will never accept the rise of any evil force hidden under a religious cover or any vile conspiracy to drench the soil of Bangladesh in blood. As in the past, the heinous conspiracies of extremists will be repeatedly thwarted. May humanity prevail. May the soil of Bengal be a safe home for people of all faiths.