Is Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrassa a national security threat in Bangladesh, and did its students help topple the Sheikh Hasina government? Reports allege that former and current pupils — including Mahfuz Alam and Hannan Masud — played leading roles in the unrest that brought down the government in July–August 2024, while the madrassa’s Jatrabari and Tongi campuses reportedly operated like “mini cantonments.” Since then, investigators say the institution has become a power centre for what they call “jihadist politics,” with graduates winning student union posts at Dhaka and Rajshahi universities and later moving into national political and violent activity.
Investigations cited in the report claim Tamirul Millat students receive both political and military training. Retired military officers are said to have provided weapons and combat training allegedly under the supervision of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), while political indoctrination is reported to have links with the war crimes-accused Jamaat-e-Islami. The so-called “anti-India Inquilab Platform” is said to have been formed with participation from madrassa students; internal disputes within that movement reportedly led to the killing of Osman Hadi and the rise of former student Salahuddin Ammar as a jihadist figure.
Diplomatic developments followed arrests in Bongaon, West Bengal: on March 8, 2026, West Bengal police detained three people in connection with Hadi’s murder. Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commission in Kolkata has reportedly been unable to secure consular access. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obayed Islam said India has not yet granted access and that consular requests for two detainees had been made earlier, with a third request now pending. The military’s press wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), on March 8 stated that the arrests were based on DGFI intelligence and mentioned efforts to repatriate the accused.
The DGFI’s alleged role in domestic politics is a recurring theme in the report. The intelligence body, the article notes, is not constitutionally defined and has been accused of shaping political parties for decades — including an alleged role in forming the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 1977 — and of operating under executive rather than military oversight. Sources claim DGFI contacts with student leaders predated the August 2024 unrest and that the agency executed elements of the plan behind the government’s fall.
Allegations extend to the supply of sniper rifles, 7.62 mm ammunition and Captagon during the 2024 unrest, and claims that weapons distribution involved Turkish funds and Pakistan’s ISI. Evidence is also said to link Tamirul Millat students to targeted killings in Jatrabari and Tongi, though those claims were reportedly suppressed. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and DGFI face longstanding accusations of extrajudicial killings; nine human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, have urged Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to dissolve RAB. State Minister Shama Obayed has acknowledged repeated human rights violations over the past 17 years, while a senior military official described officers seconded to RAB and DGFI as acting like “mercenaries.”
Despite the political government formed after the February 12, 2026 election and the Tarique Rahman administration sworn in on February 17, 2026, the report asserts the army has not fully returned to barracks and that a new “Operation Clean Heart,” reportedly to be led by military personnel in joint forces, is being planned. Tamirul Millat is described as a breeding ground for seditious activity; the report asks why, despite alleged intelligence on its operations and supposed global patrons, no decisive government action has been taken. The writer is a political and economic analyst.
Original Source: https://nenews.in/neighbours/where-does-bangladeshs-shadowy-tamirul-millat-madrassa-draw-its-political-power-from/45303/
Category: Neighbours,Bangladesh,DGFI,JeM,Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrassa
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Publish Date: 2026-03-19 18:00:00
