Police and intelligence agencies have launched an investigation into the growing display of Tawhidi flags bearing the Kalima across Bangladesh, amid concerns over possible links to banned organisations and the rapid spread of coordinated rallies and processions.
The issue has drawn the attention of law enforcement after large Kalima-inscribed flags began appearing in the capital and several other districts. Authorities are examining whether any conspiracy or involvement of the banned outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir lies behind the campaign, as the flags resemble those used by groups such as Al-Qaeda, Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said on Friday morning that police would investigate the matter.
The recent wave of flag displays followed a call by a Hefazat-e-Islam leader and teacher at an Arabic educational institution in Dhaka, who urged Muslims to fly Tawhidi flags as an alternative to the widespread practice of displaying the national flags of countries participating in the football World Cup.
Since then, rallies, motorcycle processions and public displays featuring the flags have been reported in different parts of the country. Processions have taken place on the Mayor Hanif Flyover in Jatrabari, at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, and in Sandwip, Pabna, Hathazari, Jashore, Madaripur, Bagerhat, Kanighat in Sylhet, Kotalipara in Gopalganj, Jamalpur and Narayanganj.
Hundreds of flags have also been erected along the Dhaka-Aricha highway between Hemayetpur in Savar and Singair, including on the Shahid Rafiq Bridge. The flags are either white with black inscriptions or black with white inscriptions of the Kalima.
According to law enforcement sources, Md Aminul Hoque, a teacher at Jamia Arabia Imdadul Ulum in Faridabad, Jatrabari, initiated the distribution of 10,000 Tawhidi flags across the country under a campaign named the “Sadaqah Project”. Aminul is also the administrator of the Facebook page “July Biplobi Kafela”.
Officials of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch (DB) said they were reviewing similarities with demonstrations held in October 2024, when black flags bearing the Kalima were carried in processions involving school and college students.
Those demonstrations demanded an end to what participants described as the genocide in Palestine, protested insults to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and called for the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate.
Investigations at the time concluded that activists of the banned organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir had participated in those processions. Following subsequent crackdowns and arrests, intelligence agencies are now examining whether any banned organisation is operating behind the current campaign.
Police officials said Mufti Harun Izhar, a Bangladeshi Deobandi scholar and former Secretary for Education and Culture of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, recently called on social media for people to display Tawhidi flags across the country instead of the national flags of countries such as Argentina and Brazil during the World Cup.
Harun Izhar, a former assistant director of Al Jamiatul Islamia Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa in Chattogram, told TIMES of Bangladesh that displaying foreign national flags during football tournaments was inappropriate and that the Tawhidi flag had been proposed as an Islamic cultural alternative.
He, however, said the campaign was being misinterpreted by some groups and rejected suggestions that Hizb ut-Tahrir or any other organisation was behind the initiative.
Harun Izhar also criticised the manner in which some rallies had been organised, saying Islam teaches believers to invite people towards the Kalima through dawah rather than through public showdowns.
AHM Shahadat Hossain, Assistant Inspector General (Media) and spokesperson for Police Headquarters, told TIMES that law enforcement agencies were aware of the issue and were closely monitoring the situation.
