No written order to remove president’s portraits at missions, officials say

Confusion persists over the order to remove President Mohammed Shahabuddin's portraits from Bangladesh missions abroad, as foreign ministry officials said instructions were given verbally but no formal order was issued.

Of the 82 missions abroad, most removed the portraits after the July uprising, the officials said.

The missions, who had not already taken down the portraits, were told last Friday to do so, they said.

"No, there was no written order," one foreign ministry official confirmed The Daily Star.

However, the officials could not explain why the directive came orally instead of in writing. Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam and Public Diplomacy Wing Director General Shah Asif Rahman avoided questions from journalists yesterday.

Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Azad Majumder, in a Facebook post the same day, said the interim government has discouraged the use of portraits from the very beginning, maintaining an unwritten "zero-portrait" policy.

"Even so, some individuals have, on their own initiative, displayed pictures of the government or head of state. However, no written directive has been issued to any office or mission instructing them to remove such portraits," he wrote, adding that the matter was being unnecessarily stirred in public discourse.

"Since the announcement of the election schedule has reduced opportunities to create confusion over politics, many small matters are being exaggerated and turned into mountain-sized controversies to keep up political momentum," Azad added.

Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said she only learnt of the removals from media reports.

"If it were a government decision, it would have been in writing. I don't know whether the government has taken such a decision. It was not discussed in the Advisory Council. If it was a government decision, it would come up in the meeting," she told reporters.

On whether it could impact the upcoming polls, she said: "If photos were removed, that has nothing to do with the election. A photo has no relation to an election."