Bangladesh’s political landscape changed dramatically on August 5, 2024, when student-led protests against a job quota (reservation) system led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s abrupt resignation after 15 years in power. PM Hasina fled the country after being deposed by the uprising, which spiraled into nationwide unrest.
An interim government led by Muhammad Yunus then assumed the task of both steering Bangladesh toward an election and also making political reforms in the country.
Throughout the ongoing transition phase, however, radical Islamic parties kept stepping forward. Islamic radicals such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, along with Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI), are expanding their reach. In addition, several Islamic terrorists (mainly Ansarullah Bangla Team) have either escaped or been released from prison. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which played a key role in regime change, is also organizing nationwide demonstrations.
Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), a terror group, has penetrated Hefazat-e-Islam (Hel) and increased its social media presence. Jama’at Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), along with Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), are reportedly working to establish a common platform for Islamic groups. Pakistani Islamic radical elements attend their meetings.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is the dominant Islamic political party in Bangladesh committed to sharia rule. The interim government led by Yunus reversed the ban on JI after assuming power.
Jama’at Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh (AIB) continue dominating Bangladesh’s jihadist landscape. For years, attacks by those groups have targeted secular activists, intellectuals and foreigners, as well as religious and sectarian minorities. On February 18, JMB's second-in-command, Golam Sarowar Rahat, was sighted with Yunus in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
These developments occurred amid reports of Pakistan’s renewed presence in Bangladesh after the fall of Hasina's Awami League government this past August. An agreement between the two countries has allowed the Pakistan military to train its Bangladeshi counterpart since February 2025, reported the news website, FirstPost.
The International Center for Peace Studies notes that:
In August 2024, the student movement in Bangladesh was reportedly hijacked by Islamist groups such as BJI [Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami], Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). A notable commonality among these groups is their transnational linkages with Pakistan in various ways. This connection raises the possibility of potential collaboration between these extremist organizations and like-minded groups in Pakistan to strengthen their operational capabilities and consolidate their influence in Bangladesh. Such collusion could enable these groups to utilize Bangladesh as a base for advancing their agendas, as has been observed in the past. For example, in 2022, the Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) worked in coordination with ABT to establish a foothold in West Bengal. This base was intended to facilitate attacks in India, reportedly in response to an isolated incident of mosque vandalization in Tripura. According to some reports, Pakistan-based LeT collaborated with ABT to execute terrorist attacks in India’s northeastern region.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization which has engaged in terrorist activity and supported various terrorist individuals and entities, including Al-Qaida and Usama bin Laden. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is the chief of LeT, as well as the emir or the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
LeT has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against military and civilian targets since 1993. This includes the 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians – mainly Hindu tourists - were murdered on April 22. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, striking nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
A day after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the legal adviser to Bangladesh's interim administration, Dr Asif Nazrul, reportedly met a senior local LeT operative in Dhaka.
On October 25, during his second visit to Dhaka, Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, the General Secretary of Pakistan's Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith party and a close associate of LeT founder Saeed, visited various towns across the border. He held meetings with Bangladeshi Islamic clerics to spread anti-India propaganda. He also encouraged Islamic radicals and their children to sacrifice their lives against "secular and liberal forces". He visited Islamic schools (madrasas) in places like Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, and Rangpur, amongst others. It appears that Zaheer's aim is to re-strengthen the Islamic militants in India's northeast.
Earlier, Saifullah Saif, a senior LeT commander, while attending a rally on October 30 in Pakistan’s Khairpur Tamewali claimed that LeT founder Saeed is not sitting idle, and that he is preparing to attack India through Bangladesh. Saif also claimed that LeT operatives are already active in "East Pakistan" (in reference to Bangladesh) and are "prepared to answer India for Operation Sindoor." These developments occurred in the backdrop of the November 10 Delhi blast in India, in which 15 people were killed and over 20 others injured.
Another Pakistan-backed terror group that is increasingly active in Bangladesh is Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), also known as the Army of the Prophet Mohammad.
JeM is a Pakistan-based Sunni Islamist terrorist organization which primarily conducts terrorist attacks in the Indian-administered region of Jammu and Kashmir. JeM continues to call for the use of violence in pursuit of its stated objective of placing the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir under the control of Pakistan.
JeM has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Kashmir, where India has battled an armed insurgency since the late 1980s. U.S. and Indian authorities say that JeM still operates openly in Pakistan.
Peer Mazhar Saeed Shah, who has served as the Parliamentary Secretary of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Legislative Assembly since 2021, is a close associate of JeM. He visited Dhaka on November 15 and took part in the Khatme Nabuwat conference which raised slogans on Kashmir and jihad. The representatives of all major Islamic political parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party/BNP (Salahuddin Ahmed) and the Central committee leader (Maulana Mahmood Madani) were also present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, Pakistan-backed Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army is reportedly trying to gain control over Rohingya camps in Bangladesh with the objective of using them against India in the future. Pakistan’s intelligence agency (ISI) is helping Rohingya armed groups to forge a united front in Bangladesh, reported FirstPost:
Among the many consequences of Bangladesh’s growing bonhomie with Pakistan seems to be the emergence of a united front of Rohingya armed groups that could have a far-reaching impact on the region, including India.
On 25 December, representatives from four outfits—Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Islami Mahaz, Arakan National Defence Force (ANDF), and the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA)—shared the dais at a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar following a new alliance called the Four Brothers’ Alliance or The Rohingya Army among these groups.
Sources in Cox’s Bazar disclosed that Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was engaged in the spadework to convince the armed groups to collaborate for ‘effective coordination’ in their campaign to recover their homeland in Myanmar. Assisting the ISI was a section of Bangladesh government officials who had the approval of the new regime in Dhaka.
As Kanchan Lakshman, a Delhi-based security analyst, notes:
A consolidation of Islamic elements is underway in Bangladesh after the recent regime change. Aimed at further Islamization of Bangladesh, Islamic organizations are working to establish a common platform to seize power and discredit India. The prevailing anti-India sentiment will be exploited by radical Islamic forces in Bangladesh and inimical forces like Pakistan to target India and Indian interests in the region. The current instability in Bangladesh poses a serious challenge to border management and larger national security.
Since the regime change, Bangladesh has experienced a severe surge in Islamic radicalization as well as an increased involvement of Pakistani radical Islamic elements in the country. The further Islamization of Bangladesh and the empowerment of Islamic radicals will impact not only the national security of Bangladesh itself and of India, but the security of the international community on a global scale.
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