Students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) have demanded the resignation of Syed Jamil Ahmed, the newly appointed Director General of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, terming his comments on women's attire and Islamic principles "sensitive."
The protest took place at 12pm on Wednesday, on the road adjacent to the university's Shaheed Minar.
Following a human chain, the students participated in a brief procession.
During this, they were seen chanting slogans such as "Direct action against Islamophobes, Jamal's resignation—must happen; insults about hijab—will not be tolerated; insults about Islam—will not be tolerated."
In the human chain led by Bonni Amin, a student of the Department of Chemistry, the participants labeled Jamal Ahmed's remarks as an expression of Islamophobia and demanded his immediate resignation.
Osama, a student of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, questioned how someone could make such openly anti-Islamic statements while holding the position of Director of the Shilpakala Academy after the second independence.
He wondered where this boldness came from and who supports it. They called for him to publicly repent and resign.
Ahsan Habib, a student of the Department of Pharmacy, said that all people in this country are religious.
“As Bangladesh is 90% Muslim, any attack against Islam here will not be tolerated. He expressed that while there might be issues with some clothing, the problem lies specifically with hijabs and beards. He stated that they will continue to protest against such Islamophobes."
Nadim Mahimud, a student of Batch 51, criticized the idea of creating stories against religious gatherings, saying that it is akin to offering a chicken to a fox. He asserted that through films and dramas, which promote indecent clothing for women, Islamophobes like Jamal Ahmed aim to tarnish the beauty of Islam.