Missions abroad asked to check rumors on Bangladesh situation: Hasan

Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said that the Foreign Ministry has directed all Bangladeshi missions abroad to combat against rumors those have been spreading with false and fabricated information regarding the Bangladesh situation.

“Different kinds of rumors have been spreading abroad . . . which is unexpected. We have directed all our missions to inform the expatriate Bangladesh community about the actual scenario of Bangladesh with fact,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.

The foreign minister said he had already briefed the foreign diplomats about the situation of Dhaka and elsewhere across the country while his ministry will organise a tour for foreign diplomats on Wednesday to the spots where miscreants heavily vandalised and torched the state-owned service providing establishments.

Hasan said he informed the diplomats that the anti-liberation and anti-state elements and religious extremists, including BNP-Jamaat clique, took advantage of the situation by infiltrating the student movement and turning it violent.

Without any instigation, he said, the terrorists group of BNP-Jamaat have torched and vandalised important government establishments including key-point installations like national data center, national television, metro-rail, elevated expressway and burnt hundreds of public and private vehicles.

Hasan said the situation has already been improved by the intervention of the law enforcing agencies and condition will return to normalcy within one or two days.

Replying a question regarding security of the foreign diplomats, Hasan said, no such situation is created in Bangladesh that foreigners would think of leaving the country.

Responding to anther query whether there was involvement of any international quarter behind such destruction, Hasan said, as the foreign minister, he could not make any comment on such matter without verification.

However, he said, BNP and Jamaat have the terrorist characteristics while they have connections with the international terrorist groups.

Regarding the allegation against Al Jazeera television to broadcast misinformation over the Bangladesh situation, the minister said he asked Bangladesh Ambassador to Qatar to inform the Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha that its Dhaka office has been making false and fabricated news on Bangladesh situation.

The foreign minister also criticised Dr Yunus for his statement that was published in today’s newspaper saying that in his write-up the Nobel laureate did not mention anything about the targeted attacks which were committed against the state.

Rather, Hasan said, Dr Yunus called upon the foreigners to interfere in Bangladesh’s internal mater. “It is very unfortunate, such kind of statement from a Nobel laureate,” he said.

/MHK/