In a move that has raised eyebrows across Bangladesh’s political spectrum, Mamunul Haque, Amir of the Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, has arrived in Kabul alongside six other clerics, just as his party stages nationwide protests demanding implementation of the “July Charter”.
The delegation, which includes senior figures from Hefazat-e-Islam and prominent mosque imams, landed in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday morning via Dubai, fresh from performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia.
While officially billed as a “visit by the Ulama community”, the trip was announced in a formal press release by the Khilafat Majlis, listing high-level meetings with Taliban ministers, the Chief Justice, and senior officials of the self-styled “Islamic Emirate”.
Other members on the delegation are Maulana Abdul Hamid (Pir of Madhupur), Nayeb-e- Amir, Hefazat-e-Islam; Maulana Abdul Awal, Nayeb-e-Amir, Hefazat-e-Islam; Maulana Abdul Haque, Khatib, Mymensingh Bara Masjid; Maulana Habibullah Mahmud Qasemi, Senior Muhaddith, Baridhara Madrasa
Maulana Monir Hossain Qasemi, Jamiat Leader; and Maulana Mahbubur Rahman, Local Scholar, Mymensingh.
The timing is striking.
While Mamunul meets Taliban leaders in Kabul, his party is mobilising mass rallies across Bangladesh, including a major protest march in Dhaka on Wednesday, demanding constitutional reform, Islamic governance, and the implementation of the so-called “July Charter”, a controversial political roadmap floated after the fall of the Awami League government.
“Why is he abroad while his party is on the streets?” asked one Dhaka-based political analyst. “This isn’t a pilgrimage. It’s political theatre and possibly political alignment.”
Khilafat Majlis Secretary General Maulana Jalaluddin Ahmed insists the trip is not political. “This is a delegation of ulema not politicians,” he told BBC Bangla. “Many of those who went do not engage in politics at all.”
Yet the delegation includes Mamunul, a man whose dual identity as both a party chief and Islamic scholar is openly acknowledged by his own secretary general. “He wears two hats,” Jalaluddin admitted. “One as an alim, the other as Amir of the party. That’s why the press release came from our office.”
The press release itself, however, reads like a diplomatic mission: it lists objectives including “strengthening bilateral relations between Islamic scholars”, “enhancing cooperation in trade, medicine and education”, and tellingly “observing the ground reality regarding Western criticism of human rights and women’s rights under Taliban rule”.
Jalaluddin claimed the delegation aims to “see for themselves” whether Western media portrayals of Taliban repression, particularly against women, are exaggerated. “There’s a misconception that keeping women at home means robbing their rights,” he said. “They’ve gone to see if that’s true.”
This echoes longstanding ideological sympathy among sections of Bangladesh’s Islamist clergy for the Taliban’s governance model, a theocratic state grounded in their interpretation of Sharia.
Pressed on whether Khilafat Majlis has formal ties to the Taliban, Jalaluddin flatly denied any contact: “So far, we have never met, contacted, or spoken to anyone from the Taliban government.”
In 2001, a similar “ulema delegation” visited Afghanistan under Mullah Omar’s rule. None of those clerics are alive today. Mamunul, then not yet a national figure, was not part of that trip. Now, as one of Bangladesh’s most visible, and controversial, Islamist leaders, his presence in Kabul sends a clear message: solidarity with a regime shunned by much of the world but admired by Islamist movements across South Asia.
Source: BBC Bangla