Staff Correspondent:

The remaining Bangladesh missions abroad that still display the portrait of President Mohammed Shahabuddin have been instructed to remove it.

This directive was given to a number of missions over telephone from the foreign ministry last Friday.

Senior officials at the foreign ministry confirmed the matter on Sunday morning.

A senior official at the ministry on Friday phoned a number of ambassadors and high commissioners posted in different parts of the world.

A few designated Bangladeshi diplomats stationed abroad were instructed from Dhaka to remove the president’s portrait from their respective missions.

They were also directed to inform others to remove portraits from other missions and sub-missions.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, several officials told this correspondent that Bangladesh currently has 82 missions and sub-missions worldwide.

Of these, portraits of President Mohammed Shahabuddin have already been taken down from more than 65 missions and sub-missions.

Portraits have been removed from most missions, including Washington, Delhi and Beijing. The removal began following the student uprising of 5 August last year, they added.

Among the missions that had already taken down the president’s portrait before Friday’s instructions are those in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.

While talking to a few ambassadors posted in Europe and the Americas, it was revealed that portraits of the president had already been removed from their missions. They also mentioned that there had been no specific instructions before as to whether the portraits should be retained or removed.