 "Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the Government of Bangladesh. Reuters File")
Confusion surrounds the removal of President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s portraits from Bangladesh missions abroad, as officials from the foreign ministry claim the directive was issued verbally, without any formal written order.
According to The Daily Star report, citing ministry sources, most of the country’s 82 missions had already taken down the portraits in the wake of the July uprising.
The remaining missions, which had not yet acted, were reportedly instructed last Friday to remove them as well, added the report.
The quiet and inconsistent implementation has raised eyebrows, particularly as Shahabuddin was appointed during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.
“No, there was no written order,” The Daily Star quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.
Despite this, officials were unable to clarify why the directive to remove President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s portraits was issued verbally rather than through formal channels.
Questions on the matter were avoided by both Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam and Shah Asif Rahman, Director General of the Public Diplomacy Wing, when approached by journalists on Monday, added the report.
Meanwhile, Azad Majumder, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, said in a Facebook post the same day that the interim government had discouraged the use of official portraits from the outset, maintaining what he described as an unwritten “zero-portrait” policy.
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More Shorts“Even so, some individuals have, on their own initiative, displayed pictures of the government or head of state. However, no written directive has been issued to any office or mission instructing them to remove such portraits,” he wrote, adding that the matter was being unnecessarily stirred in public discourse.
“Since the announcement of the election schedule has reduced opportunities to create confusion over politics, many small matters are being exaggerated and turned into mountain-sized controversies to keep up political momentum,” Azad added.
Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said she only learnt of the removals from media reports.
“If it were a government decision, it would have been in writing. I don’t know whether the government has taken such a decision. It was not discussed in the Advisory Council. If it was a government decision, it would come up in the meeting,” she was quoted as saying.
On whether it could impact the upcoming polls, she said: “If photos were removed, that has nothing to do with the election. A photo has no relation to an election.”
With inputs from agencies