An image depicting former Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Ghulam Azam being beaten with shoes has been placed at the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) museum, in protest against the display of photographs of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the museum.
Around 3:00pm, a group of students, led by Arko Barua, organising secretary of the Chhatra Federation’s DU unit and a student of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, pasted the image on a wall.
A visit to the museum found that the image of Ghulam Azam being beaten with shoes was placed directly on the spot where Jinnah’s photographs had previously been displayed.
According to the caption accompanying the image, Ghulam Azam was beaten with shoes by worshippers at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on January 1, 1981, when he went there to attend the funeral prayers of two Bangladeshis who were killed while fighting in the Palestinian war.
The Ducsu museum was reopened on Sunday after renovation work. Three photographs of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had been newly displayed there, sparking widespread discussion and criticism.
On Monday, protests were also held at the Ducsu museum over the display of Jinnah’s photographs. A man named Abu Tayeb Habildar went to the museum and tore off the three photographs of Jinnah.
Tayeb, a student of the DU Department of Urdu from the 2001-02 academic session, is now pursuing education as a fourth-year student.
Meanwhile, the DU administration has said displaying photographs of Jinnah at the Ducsu museum is unacceptable.
The authorities said strict administrative action will be taken against those responsible in accordance with the university’s existing rules and regulations.
“The university authorities have also taken note of the display of photographs of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, then Governor-General of Pakistan, and Abdul Malek, then a leader of the Chhatra Sangha, at the Ducsu museum.
Displaying photographs of individuals whose presence is incompatible with the history of the Language Movement and Bangladesh’s independence at a university museum is in no way acceptable. Strict administrative action will be taken against those responsible in accordance with the university’s existing rules and regulations,” the authorities said.
