Govt using public offices against the interests of people: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir says the Awami League government is trying to use all public organisations as a means to suppress public opinion.

He said Bangladesh missions abroad under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are being used against the interests of the people by spreading lies and deception in a shameless and unprofessional way.

He made the allegations at a press conference at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's political office in the capital's Gulshan on Wednesday afternoon.

The BNP secretary general said Gregory W Mix, chairman of the US Congressional Committee, speaking at a fundraising event in Queens of New York on 31 January, raised the allegations made against RAB members in Bangladesh, regarding serious human rights violations.

Fakhrul added, "The congressman referred to The Magnitsky Act in the United States,  by which the USA can impose sanctions on any foreign person or entity for human rights violations".

"However, in a very shameful and hateful manner, the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington issued a press release with a distorted interpretation of the Congressman's statement."

Mirza Fakhrul said that although the Bangladesh Embassy was not invited to the event as per US rules, the statement was distorted using a party medium, and arrangements were made to broadcast it at home and abroad through Bangladesh's official news agency.

He said a fact-checker has proved the question posed to Congressman Mix by a person present at the fundraising meeting had been relayed as the congressman's statement.

On 4 February, Congressman Mix himself refuted the press release issued by the Bangladesh Embassy and published his statement on international media, his own website, and the website of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States.

A press release was also issued by the Bangladesh Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, following a private press conference there, said Mirza Fakhrul.

The press release published in various media is still there on the Bangladesh Embassy in Brussels' website, clearly from an Awami League perspective.

This proves the government is turning the country's embassies into propaganda institutions of Awami League instead of the state, added Fakhrul.