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The Bangladesh parliament on Thursday night passed a controversial bill, which lifted the obligation of displaying the portrait of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in public buildings amid demonstrations by the main opposition Awami League.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia said the passage of the bill brought an end to the coercive law that required government buildings to display portraits of a leader whose role in the country's liberation remained 'controversial'.
Sheikh Mujibur, leader of the movement that led to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, was assassinated four years later. He is the father of opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, whose Awami League passed the portrait law while in power.
Treasury bench member Shamsul Alam Pramanik, who tabled the bill, said the Bangladeshi people did not accept Sheikh Mujibur as the father of the nation and that it is a controversial issue, a view expressed by the rank and file of the Bangladesh National Party headed by Zia.
The existing law did not account for the contributions of Ziaur Rahman (slain husband of Zia) and others, he added.
Zia said Mujib's portrait could be displayed along with that of Ziaur Rahman, who according to her motivated the people to fight for liberation.
The BNP-led coalition government had earlier scrapped official holidays on Mujibur's birth and death anniversaries.
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, has also dropped Mujibur's portrait from the currency notes.
The Awami League, which had been boycotting parliament, did not enter the House but its lawmakers wore black badges in protest.
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