On 14th June 2026, the Oxford Union in collaboration with Oxford Bangladesh Society will host a discussion on Bangladesh’s constitutional crisis in 2024. Members of the community have raised concerns about the inclusion of Shadik Kayem as one of the panellists. Kayem is a senior office-holder of Islami Chhatra Shibir. The Chhatra Shibir is the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Bangladesh’s largest far-right Islamist political party that opposed the country’s liberation war of 1971. The South Asia Terrorism Portal has described the Chhatra Shibir as part of wider extremist networks. Bangladesh’s security operations have on several occasions reported ties between the Party and the Chhatra Shibir with Islamist terror groups, such as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI-B). In 2024, the Government of Bangladesh imposed a ban on the Jamaat and Chhatra Shibir under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Hindus and other minorities have come under violent attacks during periods of political turmoil in Bangladesh. Several international bodies have raised concerns about the role of Jamaat-Shibir members in such incidents. In 2013, when more than 40 Hindu temples were vandalised, and homes and businesses were targeted, reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the BBC raised concerns about the role of the Jamaat-Shibir. The United States Department of State report in 2013 also outlines the role of the Chhatra Shibir in targeting minorities. Following this spate of attacks, evidence connecting the Jamaat-Shibir activists to attacks on minorities was submitted to the UK parliament. The organisational background of Shadik Kayem raises serious concerns for the safety and well-being of Hindu students in Oxford. Furthermore, no credible voice of Bangladeshi Hindus has been invited to this panel, which further raises questions.
References:
https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/usdos/2014/en/100885
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmfaff/267/267vw14.htm, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2013/03/bangladesh-wave-violent-attacks-against-hindu-minority/, https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/01/bangladesh-end-violence-over-war-crimes-trials, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21271872