The tearing down of a picture of the founder of Pakistan at Dhaka University ignites a debate about history and identity in Bangladesh

The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, died about 8 decades ago, but raising his picture in one of the most prestigious universities in Bangladesh was enough to ignite a debate about history and politics, in an indication of the complex relationship between the two countries that once constituted one state, according to Agence France-Presse.

Jinnah's photo was displayed this month in a new exhibition at the Dhaka University Museum, before it was taken down and torn apart, an incident that reflected a sharp disagreement over the way Bangladesh remembers its complex history.

Abu Tayyab Habaldar, the student who tore up the photo, described Jinnah as “evil.”

The controversy shows the political weight of the legacy of nationalism, religion and language that shaped Bangladesh, and how the 2024 revolution that toppled Sheikh Hasina upended established historical narratives.

Pakistan and Bangladesh were previously two wings of one state that emerged from the bloody partition of India, which was under British rule in 1947, and were separated by more than 1,500 kilometers of Indian territory.

Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan after a bloody war in 1971, during which Pakistani forces were accused of committing large-scale atrocities that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, while Bangladeshi estimates indicate that the number of victims reached millions.

Many in Dhaka are still demanding that Islamabad apologize for the killings.

Leader Jinnah was not an Islamist, but his call for the establishment of a Muslim homeland separate from India made him a prominent symbol for opposition Islamists in Bangladesh, in the context of the debate over the country's identity and history.

Political analyst Altaf Parvez said: “Jinnah has never been celebrated in Bangladesh,” considering that “the ground is fertile for the rise of Islamists, and they need an appropriate leader,” which explains the current controversy surrounding him.

“Part of history”

The Dhaka Central University Students Union (DOXU), which is led by the Bangladesh Chhatra Shibir organisation, said: The student wing of the largest Islamic political party in the country, said the photo was part of a chronological display documenting the university's history.

He criticized the leader of Doxo; SM Farhad, what he described as a “mob attack” to tear down the photo. He told Agence France-Presse: “You can correct us if we made a mistake, even though we did not commit any mistake.”

Critics accused the students' union of trying to rewrite the country's history by highlighting Jinnah, while diminishing the stature of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's first president and leader of its independence.

Habaldar, who tore up the photo, told Agence France-Presse, “Jinnah is the father of Pakistan, but when he stood against the Bengalis and their language, he became evil in our eyes.”

But Mujibur Rahman's legacy also raises widespread controversy. His daughter, Hasina, whose authoritarian rule as prime minister ended in a bloody student-led revolution in 2024, is an object of resentment among those who ousted her. Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia, and the activities of her former party were banned; “Awami League”.

During the protests against her, her father's former house, which had been turned into a museum, was burned.

He was Mujib Rahman; Who led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan, was in power when he was assassinated along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975.

Farhad said that the university museum also needs updating. He added: “They spared no effort to consolidate the narrative of the (Awami League)... Therefore; “We thought we should renew it.”

But 19-year-old student Mahfooz Rahman believed that removing the pictures was not the solution. He said: “I do not think that removing his image is a good thing... He is also part of history.”