United States Congress’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded notorious website Netra News, which has been making continuous foul attempts of promoting radical Islamic and militancy groups in Bangladesh with the ulterior agenda of destroying democratic atmosphere and turning the country into safe haven of jihadists and terrorists has been running outrageously false propaganda centering Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)’s armed-cadre-turned leader Ilias Ali. Two “editors” of Netra News namely David Bergman, who is son-in-law of an Islamist-inclined opposition politician and Tasneem Khalil, a self-pronounced anarchist and paid propagandist of radical Islamic groups and militancy outfits have been cooking numerous conspiracy theories and false stories centering Bangladesh.
Their prime target of Netra News is Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an anti-militancy and anti-terror elite forces which has shown brilliant performances in nabbing a large number of terrorists and jihadists in the country, while members of this elite force has shown tremendous success in eliminating secret bases of anti-India insurgency groups in Bangladesh as well arresting notorious leaders of Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI), Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB), Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Hizbut Tahrir etcetera, which were engaged in running anti-US activities in Bangladesh and even plotted attacks on the American Embassy in Dhaka. It may be mentioned here that, JMB later established links with Al Qaeda by rebranding it as Ansar Al Islam (AAI), while Ansarullah Bangla Team has established connections with Islamic State (ISIS). As Netra News cronies are having sympathy and connections with Islamist and militancy groups in Bangladesh, they are targeting RAB out of anger for this elite group’s continuous efforts in combating religious extremism and militancy. It may also be mentioned here that, David Bergman and Tasneem Khalil are maintaining links with Qatari terror-broadcast network Al Jazeera as well as dangerous terrorist outfits such as Hamas.
It is also learnt that taking undue advantage of being recipient of over US$700,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy, David Bergman and Tasneem Khalil have been continuing propaganda against Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Directorate of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), and Bangladesh government in the Capitol and misleading American lawmakers with bogus dossiers and fake documents. These individuals had played key-role alongside the propagandists hired by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in influencing the US policymakers in imposing unjust sanctions on several officers of RAB in December 2021. It is also learnt from credible source that, both Bergman and Khalil are also maintaining regular communications with Muhammed Yunus, a man who has been bluffing and fooling the international community for years with his blood-sucking so-called micro credit venture.
The bloodsucking show of Dr Muhammad Yunus was exposed by BLiTZ in 2011 through a number of investigative reports. Prior to publication of the reports, our reporters were sent to Jobra village in Chattogram, which was claimed to be the model “success story” of Yunus and his Grameen Bank. Our reporters interacted with the villagers and collected information as well as photographs, to expose the lies of Yunus.
For the past 14 years, Yunus has been making frantic bids in defaming the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by using his dubious connections with Hillary Clinton.
Netra News cronies have not only been cooking bogus reports centering RAB DGFI and Bangladesh authorities, they also have been involved in manufacturing fake documents claiming those to be “leaked papers”. On In February this year, Netra News published a report about “abduction” of BNP leader Ilias Ali where they used references from “leaked intel report” of DGFI, although our reporters have already crossed-checked the matter and found Netra News allegations to be totally false. Netra News even went further by bringing outrageous allegations against Brigadier General Ziaul Ahsan, an individual having high-repute for his courageous efforts in combating terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh. For his outstanding performances of effectively combating terrorism and militancy, Brig Gen Ziaul Ahsan has become a prime target to terrorist and militancy groups in Bangladesh as well as their propagandists such as Netra News, David Bergman and Tasneem Khalil. Bergman-Khalil duo made foul bids in accusing Brig Gen Ziaul Ahsan as the “mastermind” behind the “abduction” of Ilias Ali, although such allegations are outrageously false and baseless. Instead, according an investigative report in DBC News channel, Ilias Ali has been abducted by some leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
It is learnt from credible source that RAB-1, a unit of the Rapid Action Battalion has conducted a thorough investigation into the matter of Netra News’ report on Ilias Ali and found the allegation brought by Netra News as fake.
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