Jamaat-e-Islami’s foreign lobbying: meetings with Western officials widely publicized, India talks kept secret

Staff Correspondent

Dhaka, January 1, 2026: Jamaat-e-Islami is maintaining extensive contact with foreign diplomats and organizations in the run-up to the upcoming national elections in Bangladesh. According to sources, Jamaat has held at least fifty meetings with officials from the US embassy, ​​the International Republican Institute (IRI), representatives of the European Union and Pakistani officials in the last six months. It is learnt that the election situation, the party’s manifesto, vision and future plans were discussed in these meetings.

Jamaat has widely publicized these meetings with Western and Pakistani representatives. For example, in August 2025, a delegation from IRI met at Jamaat’s central office, which the party has publicly announced. Similarly, US embassy officials have met Jamaat leaders in various places, including Sylhet, as has been mentioned in various reports. Contacts with Pakistani representatives have also been publicly publicized. But Jamaat’s position on meetings with Indian representatives is quite the opposite.

In an interview with the international media outlet Reuters, Jamaat Ameer Dr. Shafiqur Rahman admitted that he had a meeting with an Indian diplomat in early 2025. However, the Indian side requested that the meeting be kept secret. Jamaat did not publicly publicize the meeting, which is a clear contrast to the Western and Pakistani meetings.

Analysts believe that the reason behind this secrecy is the long-standing anti-India campaign by Jamaat-Shibir on social media. Jamaat and its student organization Islami Chhatra Shibir have been widely promoting ‘Indian hegemony’, ‘Delhi slavery’ and anti-India narratives on social media. Such campaigns have fueled anti-India sentiment among their supporters. It is believed that the secrecy has been maintained out of fear that the party’s image may be tarnished among these anti-India supporters if news of the conciliatory meeting with the Indian representatives is revealed.

After the Reuters report was published, the Jamaat Amir said, “There is no such thing as secrecy,” and many saw it as damage control. However, the attempt to keep the meeting secret and the attempt to “eyewash” it with other foreign contacts, make it clear that Jamaat had good reason to keep it a secret.

Analysts say Jamaat’s two-pronged approach is part of its electoral strategy. On the one hand, it has open relations with India to gain Western support, while on the other, it has kept its domestic supporters secret. This is seen as an attempt to maintain the party’s anti-India image, which will help it strengthen its Islamist vote bank in the upcoming elections. However, such secrecy has raised new questions about Bangladesh’s diplomatic relations and domestic politics.