[7][8] Under recent years, Hefazat has been formed into more of a moderate and anti-terrorist ideology due to success of Awami League in ensuring jobs and mobilising qawmi madrasa.

[4] Shah Ahmad Shafi, the former director of Hathazari Madrasa, Allama Junaid Babunagari, and Mufti Izharul Islam, the chairman of the Islamist party Islami Oikya Jote, Abdul Malek Halim, founder and principle of the first women Qawmi madrasah (Haildhar Madrasah) in Bangladesh are regarded as the founders of Hefazat-e-Islam.

[12] On 24 February 2010, Hefazat wanted to hold a rally at Laldighi Maidan, Chittagong to protest the government's move to slap a ban on religion-based politics, cancellation of the fifth amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, and a proposed education policy that would have ended madrasah education.

[25] Awami League leader Nowsher Khan died of head injuries during a clash between his party activists and those of Hefazat-e Islam at Bhanga in Faridpur district.

[26] Hefazat supporters also attacked at a rally of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee in Dhaka from their procession, injuring several people including a policeman.

[27] Hefazat supporters also attacked and injured Afsar Ahmed, the pro-vice chancellor of Jahangirnagar University,[28] and reportedly threatened journalists.

[33] At about 3:00 pm while Hefazat leaders were delivering speeches, the Secretary General of Awami League, Sayed Ashraful Islam, at a press conference, threatened them to leave Dhaka.

[11] In the early hours of 6 May security forces, drawn from police, the elite Rapid Action Battalion and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh jointly launched an operation named "Operation Secure Shapla" to prevent Hefazat's violence by driving them out from Dhaka.

[40][41] According to government estimates, the number of casualties in this operation was 11, including a few law enforcement members,[42] while the Daily Star gave as little as 5 deaths.

[41][46] Because of the differing views, Human Rights Watch called for an independent body to investigate the protest deaths.

[32][42][49] Amnesty International demanded that Bangladesh government set up an independent and impartial investigation immediately to look into police excesses.

[25] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern over the killing of unarmed protesters in Bangladesh and requested the government to sit with religious and political leaders.

[50] The government filed 12 cases against top leaders of the Hefazat-e Islam for murder, vandalism, arson and destruction of properties and other charges,[53] after a demand for impartial investigations from supporting organisations.

[57] Secularism was removed from the constitution in 1975, and Islam was made the state religion in 1988, during the term of Hussain Mohammad Ershad as president.

[63] On the news of arrival of Narendra Modi during Bangladesh golden jubilee of the independence celebrations on 26 March.

[64][65][66] After the arrival of Narendra Modi in Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam supporters gathered at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Dhaka on 26 March after the Friday prayer.

[68] To stop the spread of news and cut off communication across the country, the government of Bangladesh blocked Facebook on March 26, from the afternoon.

[71] Rifat Binte Lutful urged that although it started as a fundamentlist group, later it began to drift towards moderate Islamism with Awami League administration recognising qawmi madrasah degrees and forming an anti-radical unity.

[18] Analysts also say that any relationship claim is baffling as Ahmad Shafi belongs to a band of Islamists that, unlike Jamaat, did not oppose the independence of Bangladesh, and supported a united India and rejected the creation of Pakistan in 1947.