DHAKA, Bangladesh: The government of Bangladesh has ordered tens of thousands of mosques and libraries to remove books written by the controversial founder of an Islamic party, AFP reported quoting an official.

The state-run Islamic Foundation took the decision after Syed Abul Ala Maududi's books were deemed "anti-Islamic" and likely to foster militancy in the Indian subcontinent, its head Shamim Mohammad Afjal told AFP.

Maududi is the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Afjal said: "We have taken the decision to withdraw books written by Maududi from all of the state-funded 24,000 libraries attached to mosques".

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has 270,000 mosques but only a fraction is directly funded by the government, according to the Foundation.

"Maududi's books have given bad name to Islam as they encourage terrorism and militancy. His philosophy is against the basic teachings of Quran and the traditions and saying of Prophet Mohammed," he said.

The government's decision follows arrests in recent weeks of five senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh on charges ranging from offending religious sentiments of Muslims to violence during a recent nationwide strike.