Waqf violence: Bangladesh Islamist group to march to Indian Embassy over Waqf land row

Bangladesh’s far-right Islamist party, Khilafat Majlis, will hold a mass march and a memorandum in the direction of the Indian Embassy in Dhaka on April 23 demanding the cancellation of the Waqf (Amendment) Act passed by the Indian Parliament and the continued killing of Muslims across India.

According to reports, the Khilafat Majlis chief, Maulana Mamunul Haque, declared that the land belonging to Muslims in India had been encroached upon.

The provocative address also mentioned that “by encroaching on, or illegally acquiring, the private and Waqf properties of Muslims, they are constructing various structures, including temples there”.

“The Hindutva BJP government has been killing Muslims all over India for a long time. They have unleashed party extremist Hindu militants on Muslims,” said Haque.

The address further claimed that the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, has been passed to give a legal framework to these encroachments and acquisitions.

“We have already expressed our anger and condemnation of these steps. Muslims across India erupted in protest against the bill. This bill basically interferes with the religious laws and rights of Muslims. The Muslim world should speak out against the killing of Muslims by the Indian state and its interference in the religious affairs of Muslims,” Haque alleged.

He said that the Indian government and its “low-quality media” have been spreading false propaganda of minority persecution in Bangladesh consistently worldwide.

Leaders from the Khilafat Majlis called upon Bangladesh’s government to immediately express its concern and protest the killing of Muslims in India.

The party’s Secretary General, Maulana Jalaluddin Ahmad, along with senior leaders Naib Ameer Maulana Yusuf Ashraf, Maulana Rezaul Karim Jalali, Maulana Afzalur Rahman, and former lawmakers Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury and Maulana Kurban Ali, were also present at the meeting.

The announcement for a mass demonstration against the Narendra Modi government’s newly-amended Waqf Act was made in a meeting of the central executive council held at the party’s head office in Dhaka.