Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh’s Narayanganj metropolitan branch has seen renewed tensions after two rival committees were announced five hours apart on Wednesday. At DIT Jame Mosque in Narayanganj in the afternoon, central organising secretary Mufti Bashir Ullah announced a four-member committee led by Mufti Zakir Hossain as president and Maulana Abdur Rahman as general secretary.

Around 9pm, central assistant publicity secretary Maulana Ferdousur Rahman announced a competing seven-member committee at an event in Fatullah’s Jamtala area. That committee named Maulana Kamal Uddin Dayemi president and Maulana Tajul Islam Abbas general secretary. Ferdousur Rahman rejected the earlier committee, saying leadership should go to those who had made sacrifices for the organisation rather than opportunists.

The competing announcements have publicly exposed internal disputes within the metropolitan unit and caused confusion among activists. On October 4, 2024, senior joint secretary Junaid Al Habib had announced district and metropolitan committees, with Mufti Harunur Rashid and Maulana Ahmadullah heading the metropolitan branch. Questions now remain over which new committee is organisationally valid, with concerned parties awaiting a central decision.