Bangladesh 'unfairly portrayed' in int'l media: CA's Press Secretary
"If the government does the debunking job, there are strong chances that its reports will be seen with some sort of scepticism," Shafiqul Alam says
Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam today (7 December) encouraged the independent newspapers and rights groups to do their own probe into the reports of attacks on the Hindu community in the post-revolution days.
"If the government does the debunking job, there are strong chances that its reports will be seen with some sort of scepticism," he wrote in a Facebook post this morning.
Noting this as a "serious issue," Alam wrote Bangladesh has been "unfairly portrayed" in international media and top parliamentary hearings in influential nations.
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Some even call for sending UN peacekeepers to Bangladesh — or intervening in the country — based on these reports, he said, adding, "We want fair investigations."
In recent weeks, Alam said, there have been greater efforts by the interim government and political, religious, and civil society leaders urging people to stay calm during religiously tinged incidents.
"Some of us have shown extraordinary political maturity in these events," he wrote.
But the Bangladesh Hindu Buddha Christian Unity Council's reports have "systematically exaggerated" the violence perpetrated against the minority people, Alam said.
He said they hope top secular and liberal newspapers will do their own probe into the alleged cases of religious violence reported by the Council.
"We also hope international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International will also do similar investigations," the press secretary added.
The HRW did an excellent investigation into the massacres of Hefazat activists in 2013, Alam said, hoping that HRW will do a similar probe.
Alam acknowledged that violence against minorities happens in Bangladesh.
"We are still not the ideal country as far as communal harmony is concerned. We hear reports of discrimination based on religion," Alam said, adding that there are also regular bouts of violence triggered by allegedly blasphemous Facebook posts.
When the Netra News debunked the Bangladesh Hindu Buddha Christian Unity Council's report on the attacks on the Hindu community in the post-revolution days, the press secretary said he expected the group to make a statement.
The Netra News report, Alam said, showed almost all nine Hindu dead who the minority council claimed to have been killed in communal hatred-related violence was connected to other reasons such as political, personal and other causes.
The Unity Council also made a similar "controversial report" on the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh in July this year, said the press secretary.
Alam said the Unity Council's reports have a far-reaching impact.
When a British MP recently spoke about the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, it seems he quoted the Council's report, he observed.
The report on the post-revolution attacks on Hindus was cited more than 11 million times in social media.
"What I've learnt is that the powerful and deep-pocketed Hindu American groups, Indian national and regional newspapers, and top Indian commentators cite its report to portray the state of minorities in Bangladesh," Alam said.
"Experts told me the Unity Council's reports have been the single biggest source of misinformation on anti-minority violence in Bangladesh," he added.
