BNP again says Fakhrul gave no interview to any foreign media recently
This fabricated interview was published purposely to malign the image of the BNP and its secretary general, says the party
The BNP issued a statement again today (24 September) clarifying that its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir did not give any interview to foreign media recently.
In the statement, the BNP said a baseless report was published in the Kolkata-based Bengali daily 'Ei Samay' that Mirza Fakhrul gave an interview with the newspaper.
"His interview headlined 'Fakhrul wants Awami League and Jatiyo Party in election' was published in the paper yesterday, which is blatantly false and fabricated," said the statement.
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This fabricated interview was published purposely to malign the image of the BNP and its secretary general, it added.
Yesterday, Mirza Fakhrul also dismissed the interview published in his name by Kolkata-based online outlet 'Ei Samay' as "fake and fabricated".
"That news is fake! They [Ei Samay] used artificial intelligence [AI] to create this false and misleading report," Fakhrul told UNB over the phone from New York.
Fakhrul's remarks in Indian daily Ei Samay interview misrepresented, misleading: BNP
Prior to this, the BNP issued a statement yesterday terming the Ei Samay interview "misrepresented and misleading," though the party did not claim that no interview took place.
"BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has clearly stated that the remarks attributed to him in the interview published in India's daily newspaper Ei Samay were never made by him," BNP said in its statement yesterday.
The party's statement, however, did not specify which remarks were misleading.
The report, published in various media yesterday, centred Fakhrul's comments on the Awami League and Jatiyo Party's participation in the national polls as per the Indian newspaper Ei Samay's interview.
In the Ei Samay's interview, Fakhrul reportedly said, "We have said that the Awami League and all its allies, even the Jatiya Party, should take part in the election. Let there be a fair and free vote."
The interview asked regarding Jamaat asking for 50 seats. To this, Fakhrul responded, "They asked for 30. We showed no enthusiasm. We mentioned a much smaller number, which they didn't like. But I assure you, we will not allow Jamaat to climb on our shoulders anymore. They are not that big a force, we gave them more importance than they deserved. All this PR–TR talk is just a tactic to pressure the BNP."
