MoFA asks missions to remove portrait of President after CA query

A query from Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus prompted the foreign ministry to direct all the missions of Bangladesh abroad to remove the portrait of the President, sources told the FE on Sunday adding that after August 5, a good number of missions removed the portrait on their own initiatives.

During his recent visit to Kuala Lumpur, when the CA found the portrait of the President in the Bangladesh High Commission there, he asked the officials concerned why the portrait hung there as he did not find it in many other missions, said officials on condition of anonymity.

When the query from the CA was relayed to the foreign ministry, they decided to remove the President's portrait from all the missions and gave verbal instructions to the officials concerned in this regard, sources said, adding that the ministry wants uniformity over the issue.

Officials said though the CA gave no verbal instruction to remove the portrait, the ministry high-ups took the move as they learnt that the portrait was removed in a number of missions following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime.

The current president was elected during the last Hasina regime and after August 5, several political parties as well as students staged demonstrations demanding his removal.

This directive was issued last Friday. However, instead of issuing the order directly to all missions, a few officials were instructed and asked to inform the heads of other missions.

A diplomat posted abroad said that they removed the portrait after the head of another country's mission informed them about the matter last Friday.

When asked about the verbal nature of the order, another official said, "Not all instructions can be issued in writing. That is why the directive to remove the portrait was given orally."

It may be mentioned that after the passage of the 15th Amendment in 2011, there is no constitutional obligation to display the portrait of the President as the amendment made display of the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman mandatory in all public offices, including the missions abroad. Earlier, the 14th Amendment passed in 2004, made display of the portrait of the President mandatory in key public offices.

On Sunday, neither the foreign secretary, nor the foreign ministry spokesman budged to repeated plea from the reporters to comment over the issue.

Meanwhile, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, stated that the removal of the President's portrait has no relation to the upcoming election.

At the Secretariat on Sunday, she told reporters that to her knowledge, there is no written instruction regarding the removal of the President's portrait from missions abroad. No discussion or decision on this matter has taken place in the Advisory Council either. The adviser also noted that the upcoming election, as announced by the Chief Adviser, is scheduled to be held in February.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com