Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, commonly known as Chhatra 'Shibir', is a major Islamic male student organization in Bangladesh that was established in 1977. It is considered as the de facto male student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. The organization traces its origins to the East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha, which has been the subject of controversy for its alleged involvement with Al-Badr and collaboration with the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The founding president of Shibir was Mir Qasem Ali, who had previously served as the general secretary of the Islami Chhatra Sangha. However, the organization denies being a successor to or having any organizational linkage with Islami Chhatra Sangha.
Between 2009 and 2024, Islami Chhatra Shibir was subjected to repression by the Awami League and its student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, and the organization’s activities were effectively banned during this period. During this time, the organization’s leaders and activists were accused of operating through covert political activities and of remaining under the patronage of the ruling party.
The organization is considered to have played a significant role in the July Revolution of 2024. Following the revolution the ban was lifted under Yunus’s interim government, after which the organization gained nationwide prominence winning in students' union elections at various universities.
History
Before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami was known as Islami Chhatra Sangha, the two organizations collaborated with the Pakistan Army and Al-Badr against the Mukti Bahini in the Bangladesh Liberation War, Islami Chhatra Sangha was involved in supporting militias including involvement in the rape of women, murder of Bengalis, and looting and burning of homes and providing locations of Mukti Bahini fighters. After independence, Article 38 of the 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh prohibited the misuse of religion for political purposes. Since the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student organization were fundamentally based on religion, their organizational presence effectively disappeared in post-independence Bangladesh.Following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, President Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem issued an ordinance on 3 May 1976 repealing Article 38 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, thereby lifting the ban on religion-based politics. Subsequently, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir was established on 6 February 1977 at the central mosque of Dhaka University and Mir Quasem Ali was the founding president.
Their stated mission is "to seek the pleasure of Allah by moulding entire human life in accordance with the code, bestowed by Allah and exemplified by His Messenger".
The organisation was under pressure from the previous administration led by the Awami League and its student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League. Shibir, along with its parent organization, Jamaat-e-Islami, were fully banned by the Awami League regime on 1 August 2024. However, the ban was withdrawn by the Yunus-led interim government on 28 August 2024.
Shibir took part in 2025 DUCSU elections along with their Alliance called "United Students' Alliance" and won in over 14 high ranks, including Vice President and GS for the first time in Bangladesh's history after 1971. Shadik Kayem and Shibir-backed SM Farhad won in VP and GS votings. This was eventually the first time that a Islamist organization won the DUCSU election.
Funding
Shibir members, who are students of educational institutions and establishments are expected to donate monthly in the name of Baitul Maal. There are also several publications of Islami Chhatra Shibir that are sold in educational institutions.Leadership
Criticism
Bangladesh War of Independence
Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, formally established on February 6, 1977, has its ideological and organizational origins in its predecessor organization, Islami Chhatra Sangha, which was active in East Pakistan before independence. During the 1971 Liberation War, Islami Chhatra Sangha, under the influence of Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed Bengali independence and took a stance in favor of protecting a united Pakistan based on religious and anti-secular arguments. Its members campaigned against the Mukti Bahini and allied with the Pakistani military, contributing to efforts to prevent the independence of Bangladesh. Such efforts involved rape, murder, looting, surveillance and attacks on Bengalis.Members of Islami Chhatra Sangha are accused of involvement in various wartime atrocities, including murder, rape, and collaboration with the Pakistani army to target Bengali nationalists, intellectuals, and civilians. For example, Abdul Quader Molla, who was serving as the organization's president at Dhaka University in 1971, was convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh for the killing of 344 civilians in Dhaka's Mirpur between April and December 1971 and organizing other crimes against humanity. It is known that this group formed auxiliary forces like Al-Badr and Al-Shams, which assisted in the identification and elimination of pro-independence individuals, resulting in documented genocide and forced disappearances. These activities established Islami Chhatra Sangha as one of the principal collaborators in the Pakistani army's suppression campaign, which resulted in the estimated deaths of 3 million Bengalis and widespread displacement.
After independence, the Bangladesh government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman banned Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliate organizations including the remnants of Islami Chhatra Sangha for their role in opposing independence and aiding in suppression of the Bengali movement and also due to the ban on religion-based politics. Jamaat-e-Islami has been challenging this portrayal, claiming the convictions are politically motivated; although the tribunal's evidence was based on eyewitness testimony, official documents, and forensic analysis of mass graves. The continuity between Sangha and Shibir is evident through their shared leadership structure and ideological commitment, with Shibir inheriting the legacy of reorganized anti-secessionist activism in the post-1971 context.
Militant association and armed activities
Islami Chhatra Shibir has been accused by security analysts and government sources of maintaining active links with various Islamist militant groups, including Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Jama'at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, and of assisting in member recruitment, indoctrination, and logistical supply for jihadi activities. These relationships are reported to extend to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and networks linked to terrorist organizations in Afghanistan and South Asia. ICS is also accused of assisting in the establishment of secret training camps and weapons stockpiles within Bangladesh, sending young cadres to Pakistan and Afghanistan for militant training during the Taliban era, and also having connections to Osama bin Laden's network.Allegations of direct armed activities primarily revolve around incidents of ICS members possessing and using firearms, bombs, and other weapons during campus clashes with rival student organizations like the Bangladesh Chhatra League and the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal. On 1 July 1996, at least 25 students were injured when ICS activists carried out an armed attack at Jahangirnagar University, and 48 people were arrested in connection with this incident. A similar incident occurred on 24 July 1996 at Sitakunda College, where ICS and BCL activists exchanged gunfire alongside detonating crackers, resulting in multiple injuries; and on 14 August 1996, ICS members threw bombs at a BCL rally at Chittagong University.
There is evidence of former ICS members being involved in militant activities. For example, Abdur Rahim, a former ICS member who joined JMB in 2002 and participated in terrorist activities. In August 2024, the Sheikh Hasina-led Bangladesh government, citing involvement in terrorist activities amid violent protests, temporarily banned ICS's parent organization Jamaat-e-Islami, along with its other affiliate organizations; although the interim administration later lifted this ban on Jamaat. But ICS claims these allegations to be politically motivated. In February 2014, US-based defence think tank IHS Jane's published a report titled "IHS Jane's 2013 Global Terrorism & Insurgency Attack Index", where Shibir ranked third in a list of most active non-state armed groups in 2013; Shibir denied the claim. According to reports in 2013 and 2014 by The Daily Star and New Age, courts in Rajshahi and Chittagong found no conclusive evidence linking the central leadership of Shibir to arms recovery incidents or communal violence. Human rights organizations, including Odhikar, have also reported concerns about politically motivated arrests and extrajudicial actions targeting student activists, particularly from opposition-affiliated organizations such as Shibir.
Violence and conflict
Islami Chhatra Shibir has been repeatedly accused by rival student organizations, government authorities, and human rights observers of engaging in violent clashes on university campuses where there is rivalry over political control. Central to these allegations is the use of crude weapons such as sticks, machetes, and petrol bombs by Shibir members during confrontations with groups like the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League. International reports have noted that while both sides contribute to the cycle of violence in Bangladesh's polarized student politics, Shibir's Islamist ideology has been linked to specifically targeted attacks on secular or minority students. The group was described by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism as extremely militant and "linked to a number of larger terrorist organizations both in Bangladesh, and internationally". Shibir activists, leaders and supporters were also involved in attacking opposition party members and leaders from BCL, JCD and JCS by cutting their tendons since the 1980s.During the 2013 protests, following the war crimes conviction of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee on February 28, Shibir supporters, alongside Jamaat supporters, carried out widespread arson, vandalism, and launched attacks on Hindu minorities. In several districts, including Noakhali and Jessore, more than 40 Hindu temples and hundreds of homes were damaged or looted. Dozens of people died nationwide in these incidents.
More recently, on May 28, 2025, at Rajshahi University, Shibir-affiliated members of the "Anti-Shahbag Unity" group clashed with leftist activists. At least 10 people were injured in a clash involving chases and counter-chases with sticks across the campus. According to Bangladeshi newspapers, extremist Shibir supporters attacked the organizers to disrupt an event. As per data from organizations monitoring conflict, Shibir was involved in dozens of such clashes annually.