New Delhi:

 According to reports in the Bangladesh media, authorities have arrested at least 36 HuT members since Friday. The reports, citing Bangladesh interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s office, stated that among those arrested was Saiful Islam, one of the group’s key organisers.

Bangladesh’s interim government has launched a crackdown on the banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) this week, in what is seemingly a strong message against radical extremism in the region. The move comes at a critical juncture when South Asia faces rising threats from transnational jihadist networks.

According to a report in the Bdnews24.com news portal, police launched a nationwide crackdown to apprehend members of the outfit who participated in an unauthorised gathering outside Dhaka’s Baitul Mukarram Mosque on Friday.

“We are analysing video footage of the rally,” the report quoted Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam as saying. “We have identified many members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and they will be arrested for joining a political programme organised by a banned organisation.”

Why the crackdown assumes significance for India is that it comes at a time when bilateral relations between New Delhi and Dhaka are delicately poised since the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power in August last year in the wake of a mass uprising that was sparked by a students’ movement in protest against government job quota policy. After Hasina left Bangladesh on August 5 last year and took refuge in India, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Yunus as the Chief Adviser was installed.

This crackdown comes amid concerns over growing radicalisation efforts in South Asia, where groups like HuT have long sought to recruit educated youth for their caliphate agenda. For India, this action has direct security implications, particularly in border states like West Bengal and Assam, where extremist elements have previously attempted to establish footholds.

However, the ousting of Hasina also saw the rise of extremist Islamist elements in Bangladesh’s political landscape, leading to large-scale violence against religious minorities, particularly Hindus. India has been continuously voicing its concerns over these developments.

In his weekly media briefing here Friday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India remains concerned about the deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh, “further exacerbated by the release of violent extremists who were sentenced for serious crimes”.

But, in recent days, some seemingly reconciliatory tones have come from Dhaka in terms of ties with New Delhi. For one, Yunus said in an interview to a British news outlet that there is no alternative to good relations with India. Both sides have also resumed negotiations on resuming some of the India-funded development projects in Bangladesh.

Now, it is widely believed that many of the student leaders who started the uprising against Hasina were trained in HuT-run madrassas.

What is the HuT, and how big is its presence in Bangladesh?

Al-Nabhani formulated a programme and a “draft constitution” for the establishment of a caliphate. The organisation sees world history as an eternal conflict between Islam and non-believers, with the state system considered a historical assault on Islam. The group views jihad as an essential aspect of its vision and considers it an imperative duty aimed at combating disbelief until all submit to Islamic rule, making no distinction between the violent and spiritual dimensions of jihad.

The Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international pan-Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist political organisation whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community and implement Sharia globally. It was founded in 1953 as a political organisation in then-Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem by Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, a Palestinian Islamic scholar from Haifa who was educated in Egypt and served as a religious court judge in what was called “Mandatory Palestine”.

The HuT established its presence in Bangladesh in 2000. However, in October 2009, the Bangladesh government banned the outfit, labelling it as a “threat to public security” under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban was primarily due to the organisation’s anti-democratic stance and its objective to establish a caliphate, which contradicted the country’s secular principles.

However, reports suggest that despite the ban, the group reportedly maintains “members and sympathisers within the administration, various security agencies, higher educational institutions, mosques, and madrassas” and continues to be active both online and offline, including on platforms such as websites and Facebook.

In 2024, following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, reports suggest that the HuT resumed public activities.

What does the Bangladesh government's crackdown on the HuT signal?

According to an Indian expert on Bangladesh politics and economy, most of the students who led the uprising against Hasina last year were trained in HuT-run madrassas.

The interim government that was installed, by all accounts, were sympathetic to such Islamist forces.

As such, the expert said, the crackdown on the HuT is not unexpected.

“Yunus came to power with the support of forces in the US that were opposed to Trump,” the expert claimed. “Now, Yunus has realised that he no longer has the support of those forces.”

Also, it is worth mentioning here that Bangladesh is set to be elevated to the status of a developing country in January 2026. At the same time, India’s eastern neighbour is also targeting to be a $1-trillion economy by 2031. According to experts, it will be difficult for Bangladesh to meet these targets without the cooperation of India.

“As such, the Bangladesh government needs to show a secular image to the world in general and India in particular,” the expert said in the wake of the crackdown on the HuT.

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