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The Bangladesh government has ordered the removal of all photos of President Mohammed Shahabuddin from its embassies and high commissions abroad. The directive was reportedly sent to the relevant missions on Friday evening via SMS and phone calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No official explanation has been provided, Daily Dazzling Dawn understands.
The move has sparked speculation about potential top-level changes within the government. Social media was abuzz with rumors about the decision on Friday night. Multiple diplomats, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the authenticity of the directive. However, no one from the Foreign Affairs Ministry was willing to comment late into the night.
A senior official at the Bangladesh High Commission in London told the Daily Dazzling Dawn that, while directives are not typically issued on a Friday, which is a weekly holiday in Bangladesh, some embassies reportedly received the order Friday night. The official could not fully confirm if a similar directive had reached the London High Commission. When asked by the Daily Dazzling Dawn early Saturday morning if the move was a prelude to a presidential change, the official said, "If there were to be a change, the photo wouldn't have been ordered down first. In that case, the photo would have been removed only after the change occurred."
Upon hearing the news, many senior citizens and journalists from the British Bangladeshi community and among Bangladeshis in Europe began contacting the Daily Dazzling Dawn office to verify the information.
While one source confirmed the matter on the condition of anonymity, no one was available to speak on the record before Saturday morning .
As the Yunus government in Bangladesh struggles to meet public expectations for various reasons—mainly because it's not making the right decisions at the right time—and as growing concerns about whether the election will be held on schedule have created doubt, many are now questioning if this news is actually an active plot to delay the elections.However,there is no specific law or directive regarding the display of the president's photo in foreign missions.It is customary for diplomatic missions to display their national flag and a photo of their head of state to honor diplomatic relations and their country's sovereignty. Any directive to display or remove the president's photo would follow the diplomatic rules and protocols of the host country.
The demand for President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s removal or resignation is not new. He became president after the controversial 12th parliamentary election. After the fall of the Awami League government in July 2024 amid widespread student-led protests, and with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing the country, calls for the president's ouster intensified. His resignation or removal, however, presents certain constitutional complexities. At the time, the main political party, the BNP, had opposed such a move, warning it would create a constitutional vacuum.
Who is President Mohammed Shahabuddin?
Born on December 10, 1949, Mohammed Shahabuddin is a jurist, journalist, civil servant, and politician. He was elected as the 22nd President of Bangladesh on February 13, 2023, and assumed office on April 24, 2023. His election was unique as he ran unopposed. He was nominated by the ruling Awami League, which held a majority in the 350-seat national parliament, and no other party had the numbers to nominate a candidate. The Election Commission officially declared him the president-elect after no other nominations were submitted.
Before his presidency, Shahabuddin had a long and varied career. He was a student leader for the Awami League, serving as the general secretary of the Pabna Edward College unit of the Chhatra League and president of the Pabna District Chhatra League and Jubo League. A freedom fighter who participated in the Liberation War in 1971 as a member of the "Mujib Bahini," he was imprisoned for three years after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
He later pursued a legal career, joining the Bangladesh Civil Service as a judge in 1982 and eventually becoming a District and Sessions Judge. He also served as a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016. In the 2022 National Council of the Awami League, he served as an election commissioner.
The ongoing controversy surrounding his presidency intensified after the ouster of the Awami League government. The interim government's Law Adviser, Asif Nazrul, has raised questions about his legitimacy, particularly after Shahabuddin's self-contradictory statements about receiving a resignation letter from former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On August 5, 2024, in a televised address, the President had stated that he had received Hasina’s resignation. However, in a later interview, he claimed he had no documentary evidence of her resignation. This has led to growing public protests and calls for his removal by the Anti-discrimination Student Movement and other groups.
