Dhaka University probes Jinnah photos after protests over museum display

Dhaka University has opened an inquiry into the display of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's photographs at its museum after student protests. The row has reopened wider arguments in Bangladesh over language, liberation history and political memory.Authorities at Dhaka University have launched an investigation into the display of photographs of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the university museum after social media backlash and protests by student groups.The controversy began after the Dhaka University Central Students' Union, whose council is dominated by Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, reopened the reorganised museum on Sunday with photographs and newspaper clippings linked to Jinnah and the political history of the subcontinent. The display triggered protests, with some student organisations demanding that the material be removed.On Tuesday, the university announced a five-member committee to examine the issue. A spokesman for the university's public relations department said, "The university authorities have formed a five-member committee to investigate the unauthorised and controversial display of the photograph in the reorganised DUCSU archive." The committee is headed by Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Mohammed Almujaddade Alfasane and has been asked to find out how and why the photographs were displayed without administrative approval and identify those responsible.The display included photographs of Jinnah, including one from his 1948 speech at the then Racecourse Maidan in Dhaka, where he declared that Urdu would be Pakistan's only state language. Jinnah had visited East Bengal shortly after the creation of Pakistan and said at the March 21 gathering that "Urdu and Urdu alone" would be the state language. He repeated that position during an address at Dhaka University three days later. According to local media reports, the museum also displayed a group photograph linked to the 1940 Lahore Resolution and a newspaper clipping from Pakistan's Dawn on the 1970 general election. The university had earlier said that displaying photographs of individuals whose roles conflicted with the history of the 1952 Language Movement and Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War was unacceptable, and warned that action would be taken against those responsible.The display drew protests from students and student organisations. On Monday, a fourth-year Urdu department student, Abu Tayeb Habildar, tore down Jinnah's photographs at the museum. He said Jinnah's opposition to the Bengali language meant he should not be glorified at the university. The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student wing of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, also condemned the display, calling it a "disgraceful act" that had damaged the university's image. The group urged the university administration to remove the photographs and similar artefacts from the campus. The row also led students of the left-leaning Bangladesh Chhatra Federation to put up a photograph of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam being beaten with shoes at the museum in protest against the Jinnah display. Ghulam Azam was a leading Jamaat-e-Islami figure in East Pakistan during the 1971 Liberation War and was later convicted by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal of crimes against humanity. Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971.The reopening of the museum also drew attention to changes in how Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was shown. Prominent standalone photographs of Mujibur Rahman that had earlier appeared in sections on the country's political history were removed from the reorganised museum, though his image remains in some other photographs and materials, including family photographs and newspaper clippings. Local reports said standalone photographs linked to his role in the 1966 Six-Point movement, the 1969 Mass Uprising, the 1970 general election and his March 7, 1971 speech calling for independence were no longer on display in the relevant sections.The DUCSU leadership defended the inclusion of Jinnah's photographs, saying the museum was recording historical events and that the display also referred to his opposition to the Bengali language. Fatima Tasnim Juma, DUCSU secretary for Liberation War and Movement Affairs, said the photographs were meant to provide "historical context" and not to glorify Jinnah.The controversy has come at a time of wider debate in Bangladesh over how the country's political history should be presented after the fall of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's government in August 2024. At the centre of the dispute are the legacy of the 1971 Liberation War and the roles of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League, alongside the immediate questions over the Jinnah display at Dhaka University.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 15, 2026 17:20 IST