Dhaka: It was a dismal day for Sheikh Hasina and her family.
Hours after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina was charged with ‘crimes against humanity’ in her own country for her alleged role in violent crackdowns during last year’s students-led uprising, her late father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was humiliated by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
Fresh currency notes were issued on Sunday, with new designs. In place of the portrait of Sheikh Mujib, which featured in banknotes of all denominations, the new notes have prints of traditional landmarks of the country.
“Under the new series and design, the notes will not feature any human portraits, but will instead showcase natural landscapes and traditional landmarks,” Bangladesh Bank spokesman Arif Hossain Khan was quoted as saying by AFP.
Notes for three of the nine different denominations were released on Sunday. “The new notes will be issued from the central bank’s headquarters, and later from its other offices across the country,” Khan said.
The new designs will feature images of Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as historical palaces. They would also include artwork of the late painter Zainul Abedin, depicting the Bengal famine during British colonial rule.
Another note would show the national martyrs’ memorial to honour those who died in the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Sheikh Mujibur led Bangladesh from the time of its independence in 1971 until soldiers assassinated him and most of his family in a 1975 coup.
His daughter Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India last August as mobs invaded her official residence in Dhaka.
