Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has started forming a shadow cabinet for the 13th National Parliament, according to party sources. The initiative, led by a team of experts, will include party-elected MPs, senior leaders, and specialists assigned to ministry-based roles. Assistant Secretary General Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair said the process may take another one to two months to finalize. He also dismissed a list circulating on social media naming party chief Dr. Shafiqur Rahman as prime minister of the shadow cabinet, calling it entirely false.

The idea of a shadow cabinet was first mentioned publicly by Supreme Court lawyer and Jamaat MP Mohammad Shishir Monir in February, who urged for creative political engagement through parallel ministerial structures. The National Citizen Party (NCP) later expressed similar intentions to form a shadow cabinet to ensure transparency and accountability. Party insiders said the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance, now recognized as the parliamentary opposition with 77 MPs, aims to monitor government activities and propose alternative policies through this structure.

The shadow cabinet concept, common in parliamentary democracies like the UK and Canada, is designed to hold the ruling government accountable and offer policy alternatives.