On October 25, Chief Adviser of the interim government Dr. Muhammad Yunus held a courtesy meeting with General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) of Pakistan. During the meeting, Dr. Yunus presented him with a book titled “The Art of Triumph”, a collection of colorful and diverse graffiti artworks created by students on walls across the country during the July uprising. The book’s cover features a graffiti painting of the map of Bangladesh.
Following this, several Indian media outlets circulated photos of Dr. Yunus presenting the book to the Pakistani general, claiming that the Chief Adviser had gifted him a map of Bangladesh that includes India’s northeastern region. Given the geopolitical tensions between India and Bangladesh following the “Chicken’s Neck” issue since August 5, the photo quickly drew widespread attention.
See reports published in Indian media outlets such as Republic, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, NDTV, ABP News, News18, India.com, and North East Live TV.
Posts spreading the same claim on Facebook can be seen here (archive) and here (archive).
The claim has also circulated on Instagram — see one such post here (archive).
Fact-Check
Rumor Scanner’s investigation found that the claim — that Chief Adviser Dr. Yunus gifted the Pakistani Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “new map” of Bangladesh including India’s northeast — is false.
In reality, the Pakistani general was gifted The Art of Triumph, a book compiling graffiti artworks drawn by students during the July uprising. The book’s cover uses one of those student-drawn graffiti images. As these were hand-drawn by amateurs, the shapes and outlines — including the map seen on the cover — are not perfectly proportioned. Indian media outlets have misrepresented this artistic imperfection as a political statement.
A keyword search led to a report by The Business Standard, which explained that the book was published by the July Martyrs’ Memorial Foundation. The purpose was to preserve the graffiti created during the movement, as they would otherwise have been lost.
According to artist Morshed Mishu, one of the book’s producers, the artworks were not selected based on artistic polish, but on whether they expressed the positivity of the new Bangladesh, the hopes and demands of ordinary people, and the aspirations of Gen Z. He also clarified that the project did not aim to showcase works of professional or high-profile artists.
This confirms that the book — and the artwork on its cover — have no connection to India-Bangladesh geopolitics. The distortions are simply the result of amateur student drawings.
Upon reviewing the Art of Triumph book itself, Rumor Scanner found multiple graffiti artworks with similarly distorted maps, not just the one featured on the cover. Many other artworks in the book also show signs of artistic inexperience.
Further examination of other graffiti images from the July uprising shows several distorted versions of Bangladesh’s map, each with slightly different outlines. Such variations are natural given that they were drawn spontaneously by different students.
This clearly indicates that the distortions arose from amateur execution, not any geopolitical intent. If geopolitics had been involved, the maps would have been consistently identical.
A related report on Jagonews24 titled “The stories of protest drawn on walls across the city” quotes a Dhaka University student, Badiul Haque, recalling:
“We made graffiti and wall writings in haste at the time. Before August 5, we painted quickly, fearing police or ruling party attacks. Often, we’d just write a slogan while on a protest march — so the drawings weren’t neat.”
This statement further supports that the graffiti were hastily drawn and imperfect due to the circumstances.
Indian media reports have mentioned that The Art of Triumph was presented to the Pakistani CJCSC General Sahir Shamshad Mirza — but Rumor Scanner’s review found that the book was also gifted to various heads of state and dignitaries from multiple countries, not just Pakistan.
See such reports here, here, here, and here.
Hence, based on the presented evidence, it is clear that Indian media outlets have falsely linked a student graffiti compilation from the July uprising to geopolitical propaganda.
Therefore, the claim that Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus gifted a new map of Bangladesh including India’s northeast to Pakistan’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Sahir Shamshad Mirza is completely false.
Sources
- The Business Standard: From the streets to the States: The story behind The Art of Triumph
- The Art of Triumph: Graffiti of Bangladesh’s New Dawn (book)
- Shilpakala Website: Collected stills of art, graffiti, wall writings, murals, and calligraphy from the July Revolution 2024
- Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) Facebook Post
- Jagonews24: The stories of protest drawn on walls across the city
- Rumor Scanner’s Analysis
