Who is Maulana Ikramul Haque?
Al-Qaeda-linked Bangladeshi propagandist and jihadist recruiter returns to the spotlight
By: ANIMESH ROUL, MjP Senior Advisor and Executive Director of the Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, New Delhi
24 August 2026
Maulana Ikramul Haque, who dons multiple identities to evade scrutiny, including the names Noor Hossain, Abu Talha, and Maulana Sabet, is a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar accused of serving as a senior recruiter, propagandist, and organizer for Al Qaeda’s South Asia branch, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Haque was arrested in Dhaka’s Madertek area in May 2023 and released on bail from Kashimpur High Security Prison on October 10, 2024. Recent reports from Bangladesh suggest that Haque has not been seen since his release. It is said that intelligence officials visited his family home in Mymensingh, and his father mentioned that Haque might be teaching at a madrasa in Narayanganj.
Why Haque is again in the news
Haque’s disappearance has become politically sensitive because it occurred amid a broader release of high-profile militant suspects and convicts following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024. On 17 September 2024, Bangladesh’s inspector general of prisons stated that at least 43 high-profile criminals and militants had been released on bail after 5 August. Attacks on 17 prisons had also enabled more than 2,000 inmates to escape; at that stage, more than 900 remained at large, including approximately 70 militant suspects. Among the most consequential releases was Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, the imprisoned head and principal ideologue of Ansarullah Bangla Team, subsequently known as Ansar al-Islam. Rahmani, who had been convicted in connection with the 2013 murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, was released from Kashimpur prison on bail on 26 August 2024. Reports also identified Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh leader Atik Ullah among the high-profile militants receiving bail during the political transition.
The renewed attention on AQIS and leaders in Bangladesh also coincides with the UN Security Council Monitoring Team’s 2026 assessment that AQIS may be seeking to exploit Bangladesh to establish cells. Bangladesh’s government rejected this assessment as “assumption-driven” and said it would not act solely on the report. The UN statement was limited and did not identify an established nationwide AQIS structure, but it reinforced concerns about organizational space becoming available to al-Qaeda-aligned actors. In fact, the current and previous governments of Bangladesh remain in denial and have deliberately ignored the jihadi propaganda outreach during and after August 2024, targeting Bangladesh.
Formative years of an Ideologue
According to police records, Haque, now in his early thirties, comes from the Bororchar neighborhood of Kotwali in Mymensingh district. Although little is known about his childhood, he was born into a modest family with his father, Joynal Abedin, and his mother, Yasmin Akhter. His educational journey began at Jamia Islamia Darul Uloom Madania in Jatrabari, and he later attended Jamia Arabia Imdadul Uloom (Faridabad Madarsa), a well-known Qawmi (unregulated/private) madrasa in Dhaka. He earned his Dawra-e-Hadith qualification in 2017. In 2018, he traveled to India using a tourist visa and enrolled at the renowned Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband (Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh), India.
However, before his trip to India, while studying at Faridabad Madrasa, he became involved in militancy through Abu Imran Osman Ghani, the leader of Ansar Al Islam (formerly Ansarullah Bangla Team), who was also instrumental in inspiring Shamin Mahfuz, a leader of another Al Qaeda-linked group, Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya. Haque subsequently went to India and engaged in AQIS’ dawa activities, secretly influencing many youths with Al Qaeda’s ideology. Police reports describe him as a skilled student proficient in Bengali, Urdu, Arabic, and English, with a good understanding of computers and online communications.
Building an AQIS network in India
Ikramul Haque’s case is important not only because of his position in the AQIS hierarchy, but also because his activities illustrate the group’s cross-border strategy, including recruiting Bangladeshi and Indian muslims, exploiting mosque and madrasa networks, obtaining fraudulent identity documents, and directing dispersed cells via encrypted communications.
Both Indian and Bangladeshi agencies confirmed that he obtained Indian passports under the false identity of “Nur Hossain,” using an address in Dinhata in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, which borders Bangladesh. He listed his father as Sabu Mia and his mother as Nabia Bibi in the passport. His wife, Faria Afrin Anika, allegedly obtained an Indian UID (Aadhaar) card in the name “Mariam Khatun.” While at Deoband, Haque reportedly entered the AQIS network through an operative identified as Aman. Bangladeshi investigators claimed that he established contacts with AQIS figures in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and had communicated with or met with AQIS founding leader Asim Umar before Umar was killed in Afghanistan in September 2019.
Haque reportedly rose to lead AQIS’s ‘dawah’, or ideological outreach, activities in India. His operational importance is more clearly supported by his role as a recruiter, trainer and intermediary between AQIS networks in India and Ansar al-Islam in Bangladesh. He was heading AQIS’s outreach wing and was wanted in at least ten cases in India. Indian investigations linked Haque to networks operating in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. He reportedly conducted both online and face-to-face ideological classes, with particular emphasis on recruiting Bengali-speaking Muslims and economically vulnerable youths. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he allegedly helped form three cells in West Bengal. Suspects arrested in Madhya Pradesh in 2022 and four Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Gujarat in May 2023 reportedly identified Haque as a jihadist recruiter or senior AQIS handler. His use of multiple identities, fraudulent documents and encrypted platforms indicates that his value to AQIS lay in organizational facilitation and grassroots mobilizations.
As Indian counterterrorism agencies dismantled several AQIS-linked cells during 2022–23, Haque reportedly returned clandestinely to Bangladesh with his wife. The couple initially stayed in Mymensingh, where Haque allegedly taught at a madrasa while continuing to communicate with associates in India. After his arrest by the CTTC along with his wife in May 2023, they were subsequently prosecuted under Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Act in a case registered at Sabujbagh Police Station. Police claimed that forensic examination of their devices uncovered extremist audio, video and photographic material, encrypted communications and evidence of contacts with senior AQIS and Ansar al-Islam figures. After a fortnight long custodial interrogation, Haque was sent to Kashimpur prison. He obtained bail on 10 October 2024.
Concluding thoughts
Haque’s case is alarming in light of his theological, multilingual, and technical skills, as well as his connections across Bangladesh and India. If re-engaged in secret, he could rebuild recruitment and propaganda networks for Al Qaeda in the region without resorting to violence and raising any suspicion. His case also highlights weaknesses in Bangladesh’s post-release monitoring of Islamist militants. Given his extremist past in Bangladesh and India, as well as his links to AQIS and Ansar al-Islam, locating him and clarifying his legal status are crucial for Bangladesh–India counterterrorism efforts. Without action, his release or escape risks enabling jihadist networks to exploit Bangladesh’s political shift and weak enforcement.
Notes:
Iftekharul Bashar, “Ikramul Haque: From Madrassa Student to AQIS Recruiter in India and Bangladesh”, Militant Leadership Monitor, March 14, 2024.https://jamestown.org/ikramul-haque-from-madrassa-student-to-aqis-recruiter-in-india-and-bangladesh/
Nazrul Islam, “Ikramul, arrested in Bangladesh, is ‘most wanted’ militant in India”, Prothom Alo, July 07, 2023, https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/crime-and-law/xyqxa251aq
“Suspected Al Qaida terrorist ‘wanted’ in India, arrested in Bangladesh”, Sentinel Assam, Jul 09, 2023, https://www.sentinelassam.com/more-news/international/suspected-al-qaida-terrorist-wanted-in-india-arrested-in-bangladesh-657385
“Suspected militants freed after August 2024 changeover raise fresh security fears”, TBS News, August 18, 2026, https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/suspected-militants-freed-after-august-2024-changeover-raise-fresh-security-fears-1518006
Vineeta Pandey, “Bangladesh: Sajeeb Wazed Claims Top Al-Qaeda Leader Living Freely In Bangladesh After Bail”, Deccan Chronicle, August 22, 2026, https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/bangladesh-sajeeb-wazed-claims-top-al-qaeda-leader-living-freely-in-bangladesh-after-bail-1981340
The views and opinions expressed in this article represent those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Monitoring Jihadism Project (MJP).
