Bangladeshi Madrasa Students Dressed as ISIS Fighters at Cultural Program

Pune: Dr Abraham Mathai, former Vice-Chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, has expressed deep concern over alarming reports from Bangladesh at Jessore’s Jamia Islamia Madrasa that depict students dressed as ISIS militants, holding toy guns, reportedly under the guidance of a cleric.

“These shocking visuals from a cultural program, now viral on social media, raise serious questions about the psychological conditioning of young minds in Bangladesh,” Dr Mathai said in a statement.

He said the popular Bangladeshi author and feminist Taslima Nasreen has also criticized this, warning that children playing with toy guns today could grow up to wield real weapons tomorrow, a chilling prospect demanding urgent attention.

Dr Mathai, also the founder-chairman of the Mumbai-based Harmony Foundation, an NGO, commended Nasreen’s courage in highlighting the issue and echoed her concerns.

“What appears to be a cultural program takes on a dangerous undertone when students are dressed as ISIS militants in a Madrasa—a place meant to impart religious education,”

“This is not normal. Fancy dress competitions and cultural programs do not typically glorify violent ideologies. The question is: are these institutions subtly grooming children to imbibe extremism as a goal to fulfil their radical ideology?” he asserted.

Dr Mathai noted that children, like clay, can be shaped in any direction. “Such activities risk normalizing violence and indoctrination under the guise of harmless cultural expression,” he pointed out.

Dr Mathai also criticized the broader trajectory of Bangladesh, drawing parallels with nations like Afghanistan and Syria, where fundamentalist ideologies have disrupted peace and progress.

“Is this the nation they are heading towards, where children dress up as ISIS militants and Hindu minorities are suppressed every day?” he asked.

Urging accountability, including the revocation of Bangladesh government chief advisor Muhammad Yunus’ Nobel Peace Prize, Dr Mathai urged international leaders and organizations to take decisive action to prevent Bangladesh from falling deeper into the abyss of such extremism.