After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August, the former prime minister’s portraits were removed from the Bangladeshi missions across the world. It was a normal practice, as she was no longer the prime minister. However, now it has been revealed that even the portraits of president Mohammed Shahabuddin also removed.
Despite the fall of the elected government, Mohammed Shahabuddin remains the president of Bangladesh, and therefore his portrait should be present at official establishments, including the missions abroad. However, several missions removed the portrait months ago without any govt instruction, and now the foreign ministry has asked the remaining missions to remove the portraits.
According to officials, earlier there was no official written instructions to remove the portraits, but the officials in foreign missions did it after ‘getting the signal’. Officials said that even though there were no instructions, Bangladesh Missions abroad are maintaining a “policy of zero” portrait for months.
According to an official, they got the ‘signal’ during zoom meetings with the foreign ministry. When they saw that there was no portrait of the president at the ministry, they got the hint, and removed the president’s portrait. “When we see no portrait at the Ministry, it gives a signal. So, the portrait of the president was removed several months back,” said the diplomat.
Moreover, the remaining missions that retained the president’s portrait have been now instructed verbally to remove the president’s portrait. As per reports, this directive was given to a number of missions over telephone from the foreign ministry last Friday. They were also directed to inform others to remove portraits from other missions and sub-missions, Prothom Alo reported.
As per the report, out of 82 Bangladeshi missions, over 65 have already removed the president’s portrait, including Washington, Delhi and Beijing.
