Jamaat logo change move sparks fierce backlash within party and beyond

The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is facing a storm of internal discontent and wider political criticism after a redesigned emblem surfaced that drops Quranic text and introduces imagery resembling the national flag. The proposed logo, which appeared on the wall of the Amir’s office during a meeting with Spanish Ambassador Gabriel Cistiaga Ochoa de Chinchetru on 28 September, has sparked heated debate both online and within the party. The emblem features a rising sun on an open book set against a green flag, with a pen forming the bar of the party’s long-standing electoral symbol – the scales. Semi-parallel lines appear on either end of the book. Absent, however, are the Islamic inscriptions that defined the traditional emblem: the name of Allah,...