Within hours of publication of an exclusive report in Blitz stating the Election Commission in Bangladesh has allowed two reporters namely Jonah Hull (a British national) and Maurya Gautam (an Indian national and Senior cameraman/editor with Al Jazeera English based in India) to cover the January 7, 2024 general elections in the country although this Qatar-based terror broadcast network Al Jazeera English channel has been consistently running vile propaganda against Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, members of Bangabandhu family as well as esteemed figures in the government and civil-military establishment, Al Jazeera English already has started publishing reports clearly with the ulterior agenda of making the upcoming January 7 general elections controversial.
On January 4, 2024, in a report titled ‘Bangladesh elections mark a pro-China tipping point in South Asia’, Al Jazeera English has cunningly attempted to generate misunderstanding between Dhaka and Delhi. In this article, Al Jazeera English said:
The year 2024 will witness key elections to choose democratic governments across the world, and the season begins with the Bangladesh election on January 7. Altogether, 29 political parties, including the governing Awami League (AL) and a faction of the opposition Jatiya Party, will fight the elections. With almost all the opposition parties led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat) sitting out, the return of AL to power for a fourth term is a fait accompli.
It further said, “With AL set to retain its control over Bangladesh, the US effort to disrupt this metamorphosis by using human rights as a diplomatic weapon appears to have failed. To put it more bluntly, the outcome of the elections marks the tipping point at which Bangladesh buckles into China’s Belt and Road Initiative more firmly than the US-backed Indo-Pacific efforts to counter Beijing”.
In another pro-BNP-Jamaat article, which is published on January 3, 2024, Al Jazeera Engllish said: Hasina, 76, has been in power for 15 straight years – the longest-serving leader in Bangladesh’s history.
Her tenure has been marked by allegations of authoritarian rule, targeting of the opposition, the suppression of people’s rights, and large-scale vote rigging in elections held to keep her in power.
As she seeks a record fourth term in Sunday’s vote, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has decided to boycott the vote, as it did in 2014.
Zia, 78, was jailed for more than two years over corruption charges and was moved to house arrest over health concerns in 2020. She denies the allegation, saying her conviction was politically motivated.
On January 3, 2024, Associated Press also came up with a misleading article. At the end of the report, it quotes Zillur Rahman, a television talk-show anchor with clear anti-Awami League mindset. During the 1/11 government, Zillur Rahman even showed the extreme notoriety by interviewing a self-proclaimed killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In its article quoting Zillur Rahman, Associated Press said:
“Zillur Rahman, director at the Dhaka-based Center for Governance Studies, says Hasina — who survived 19 assassination attempts and racked up a long list of political enemies — has “no safe exit.”
“She is always under threat … and she has to be in power,” Rahman said”.
It is well-anticipated, immediately after the January 7 general elections, anti-Awami League forces shall begin massive media assault using Western newspapers and media outlets as well as social media platforms.
Meanwhile, on January 4, 2023, Information and Broadcasting Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud said BNP recruited some Jewish agents to spread falsehood against January 7 election after being rejected by the people.
“People have rejected BNP’s call of resisting poll. Now they are urging to boycott election and employed some Jewish agents including David Bergman to make the poll questionable”, he said while replying to a query of reporters at his secretariat office.
The minister said, the countrymen have rejected BNP’s anti-poll campaign. Now they are urging to boycott the poll which means BNP’s voice against election is fading away, said Hasan.
BNP’s recruited lobbyists are writing articles in different foreign newspapers. But there is no benefit of their evil motive”, he said, adding that Begum Khaleda Zia also had written article in a US newspaper by her name against the country.
The information minister said it is nothing new as BNP can do anything against the country. Even they wrote article forging the signatures of congressmen and presenting a fake US president’s advisor before the nation, he said.
Hasan Mahmud said “BNP also had spread propaganda that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah phoned them. By doing this BNP has made itself a fake party”.
It may be mentioned here that, for the past three years, Blitz has been consistently publishing articles and reports about Bangladesh Nationalist (BNP) and is ideological ally Jamaat-e-Islami spending millions of dollars towards lobbyists and media propaganda against ruling Awami League. But it seems, neither ministers of the government nor the state machinery had ever paid and hid to these coverages. Their ignorance has brough several bad news for Bangladesh, including sanctions on some officers of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and announcement of visa policy. Should the government take appropriate measures by paying due attention to Blitz reports, Bangladesh could have easily avoided such unexpected actions from the US administration. We can say again – immediately after the closure of voting process on January 7, 2024, BNP-Jamaat shall launch well-orchestrated propaganda in the international media, where Al Jazeera English shall pay important role. Such media assaults certainly can be effectively countered, only if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes initiatives. Without he efforts, nothing possibly will happen.
