Jinnah, Ghulam Azam pictures placed on floors at DUCSU entrance, museum to be trampled
A group of students at the University of Dhaka have placed pictures of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Ghulam Azam on the floors at the entrance to the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) building and its museum for people to trample on.
They said they took the step to protest the display of pictures of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, former Governor-General of Pakistan, and Abdul Malek, a then leader of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, at the DUCSU museum.
The students, from the 2025-26 academic year at the University of Dhaka, placed the pictures of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam at noon today, Tuesday, and then trampled on them.
Students who took part in the programme said that after Fatima Tasnim Zuma, DUCSU secretary for the Liberation War and Democratic Movements, put up a picture of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the DUCSU museum, she had said she put it up because she felt like doing so.
They said that as general students, they too were saying they felt like it, and had therefore placed pictures of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam on the floor and trampled on them.
Speaking about the programme, Shibbir Ahmed, a student of the 2025-26 academic year in the Department of History at the University of Dhaka, said, “The DUCSU secretary for the Liberation War, whose manifesto included promoting the Liberation War, wanted to respectfully put up the picture of a pro-Pakistan figure on the wall of the DUCSU museum. She did this by showing her power.”
He added, “Using the power of the students and the power of those who stand for Bangladesh, we placed the pictures of Ghulam Azam and Jinnah, the pictures of pro-Pakistan figures, under our feet. This will continue. No pro-Pakistan politics can be brought to the forefront in Bangladesh.”
Shibbir Ahmed said, “We have seen politics in the past using Sheikh Mujib’s picture. It is clear here that they wanted to bring in pictures of Jinnah and Ghulam Azam as replacements for Sheikh Mujib’s picture.”
Ash Shams, a student of the English for Speakers of Other Languages department, said, “For the past few days, I have seen that on Jinnah’s death anniversary, a tribute was apparently paid to Jinnah by Inqilab Moncho, where Zuma enthusiastically shared posts. Later, when Jinnah’s picture was removed or taken down from the DUCSU museum, she again posted on Facebook that pictures were being removed and vandalised at the DUCSU museum.”
The student added, “They must have been very upset about Jinnah’s picture being removed. So our demand is that, as they were elected with the mandate of general students, they should stand for Bangladesh and stand with those who support Bangladesh.”
The DUCSU museum was reopened last Sunday after renovations. It did not contain a single picture specifically depicting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s role in Bangladesh’s independence movement.
Three new pictures of former Pakistan Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah had been put on display. One was a picture from an event at the then Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) on 21 March 1948, where he declared, “Only Urdu will be the state language of Pakistan.”
A group photograph from the All-India Muslim League’s annual conference in Lahore in March 1940 and a newspaper clipping of a report published in Dawn were also displayed. A picture of Abdul Malek, a former leader of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, was also put on display.
After this news spread, criticism began on Facebook on Sunday night. Later, on Monday afternoon, a student named Abu Tayeb Habildar went to the DUCSU museum and tore down the three pictures of Jinnah in protest. Later, leaders of the Chhatra Federation put up a picture showing former Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Ghulam Azam being beaten with shoes in front of Baitul Mukarram in 1981.