An exhibition organised by Islami Chhatra Shibir at Dhaka University’s Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) ignited a wave of public outrage on Tuesday after it was found to include photographs of convicted war criminals.
The backlash, led by university students and social media users, prompted the authorities to intervene and shut down the display later in the evening. The exhibition was part of Shibir’s three-day program marking the anniversary of the July Uprising.
Among various installations, the group had set up a section titled “Judicial Killings”, which prominently featured portraits of several war criminals executed for atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.
The display included photos of Motiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Abdul Quader Mollah, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Mir Quasem Ali, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
The presence of these images on the Dhaka University campus drew immediate condemnation. Students accused Shibir of attempting to whitewash war crimes and reviving discredited narratives under the guise of commemorating the recent student-led uprising.
As the controversy escalated, a group of Dhaka University students gathered at TSC in protest and demanded that the exhibition be taken down. In response, university authorities approached the organisers and instructed them to remove the photographs. Shibir complied, and the section was dismantled by the evening.
Rafiqul Islam, assistant proctor of Dhaka University, confirmed the action: “Students raised serious objections to the content of the exhibition. We discussed the issue with the organisers, and they cooperated in removing the materials. We thank them for that.”
Abdul Kader, convener of the Bangladesh Democratic Students’ Council, DU chapter, criticised the incident on social media. “Shibir is trying to overwrite the history of ’71 by glorifying war criminals under the banner of the 2024 uprising. This is not only disrespectful, it’s dangerous,” he wrote.
In defense, Majharul Islam, Shibir’s DU unit secretary for Human Resources and Development, said, “We organised this exhibition with permission to depict the July uprising. The university has requested that the controversial materials be removed to maintain order, and we agreed.”