On March 27, 2024, following comment of US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller who responded to question from Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, a member of Al Qaeda-connected ultra-Islamist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), India summoned US diplomat protesting Miller’s comment on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and freezing of opposition Congress party’s bank accounts.
Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, who succeeded in getting Press Accreditation card at White House and State Department asked Matthew Miller, “What is your response to India’s summoning of the US diplomat over comments regarding the arrest of Delhi’s Chief Minister Kejriwal, and how do you view the recent political turmoil in India, including the freezing of the opposition party’s bank account? As Amnesty International described the situation, “Crackdown on opposition reaches a crisis point ahead of national elections”.
In response, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues. With respect to your first question, I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said from here, that we encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don’t think anyone should object to that”.
In the United States, BNP has hired two former diplomats namely William B Milam and Jon Danilowicz while they, along with Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey are running several organizations namely ‘Right to Freedom’, ‘Just News’, and ‘South Asia Perspectives’ which are being funded by BNP. All of these organizations are located at 1015 15th St NW, Suite 600, Washington DC, 20005.
It may be mentioned here that, although William B Milam and Jon Danilowicz have been working as lobbyists and agents, both of them have not registered as lobbyists thus violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The US Department of Justice says, “Penalty for a willful violation of FARA is imprisonment for not more than five years, a fine of up to US$250,000, or both. Certain violations are considered misdemeanors, with penalties of imprisonment of not more than six months, a fine of not more than US$5,000, or both”.
It may be further mentioned here that, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey – a heavily anti-Semite and pro-jihadist individual has served as the Deputy Press Secretary to then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during the 2001-2006 rule of Islamist coalition government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami. Ansarey, a confidante of Tarique Rahman was particularly assigned to maintain liaison between Tarique and militancy outlets in Bangladesh, including Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), while he also was maintaining communication with leaders of United Liberation Front of Assom (ULFA) on Tarique Rahman’s behalf. He also worked as a coordinator of BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman when Al Qaeda kingpin Ayman al-Zawahiri was hosted by BNP in December 2001.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s hosting Al Qaeda group including Ayman al-Zawahiri was first exposed by eminent journalist and counterterrorism expert Alex Perry, who in a TIME magazine article on April 14, 2002 had exposed Al Qaeda kingpin al-Zawahiri and other members of the terrorist group’s arrival and stay in Bangladesh.
Following publication of Alex Perry’s article, journalist Bertil Lintner in another article in South Asia Terrorism Portal wrote: “…While Bangladesh is yet far from becoming another Pakistan, Islamist forces are no doubt on the rise, and extremist influence is growing, especially in the countryside. According to a foreign diplomat in Dhaka, “In the 1960s and 1970s, it was the leftists who were seen as incorruptible purists. Today, the role model for many young men in rural areas is the dedicated Islamic cleric with his skull cap, flowing robes and beard”.
It may be mentioned here that BNP has been termed Tier-III terrorist organization by US courts, while its acting chairman Tarique Rahman is a convicted terrorist who has been living in the United Kingdom since 2007.
Major General Gaganjit Singh, former Deputy Director General of India’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman was the mastermind of 10 truck arms haul in Chattogram [Chittagong] in 2004.
Talking to India Today and a television channel in Bangladesh, he said the arms were being supplied under direct patronization of the then BNP-Jamaat alliance to use Bangladesh as a sanctuary.
Ten trucks full of arms seized at Chittagong in April 2004 was meant not only for the United Liberation Front of Assom (ULFA) but also for a few other rebel groups in India’s northeast to destabilize the country, he added.
“But he was operating in close coordination with DGFI and some NSI officials who had close links with Tarique Rahman (current acting chairman of BNP) and his cronies in what was then referred to as Hawa Bhaban (political office of BNP)”, disclosed Singh.
Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey was directly involved in each of the notorious acts of Tarique Rahman, including August 21, 2004 grenade attacks as well as 10 truck arms haul cases. And this notorious individual is regularly visiting White House and the United Nation using press accreditation cards that he managed through false declaration.
Giving details about Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, OpIndia wrote:
Mushfiqul Fazal (Ansarey) is a Bangladeshi journalist living in the US. According to his Facebook profile, he is the executive editor at South Asia Perspectives, executive director at Right to Freedom, White House correspondent for Just News BD and more.
OpIndia found a report from Just News BD, the media house he works for, where it was mentioned that the Government of Bangladesh had sued him under Digital Security Act along with France-based activist Dr Pinaki Bhattacharya. As per the report from November 2022, Mushfiqul was booked by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), and Mushfiqul was marked as ‘absconding’ in the matter. In short, the person asking questions about India is an absconder in his own country.
The same report mentioned that Mushfiqul used to run a web portal that was banned by the Bangladeshi government in 2015. He has been accused of spreading disinformation about the government on multiple occasions. Mushfiqul is pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a political party in Bangladesh in opposition to Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. During the time his portal was banned, Mushfiqul was serving as BNP’s Foreign Affairs Committee member.
Bangladesh’s mission to the UN had objected to his participation in various programmes as a “journalist” despite his “active” political roles and affiliation. Speaking to BD News 24, then-Press Secretary of the mission, Bijob Lal Deb, had said, “If active politicians are given media cards, there will be nothing left to say.” He confirmed that the mission sent a letter to the UN objecting to Mushfiqul’s presence at the UN and US State Department events as a journalist. Interestingly, Mushfiqul spoke to BD News 24 and claimed there was nothing wrong with simultaneously being a journalist and supporter of a political party.
Mushfiqul has a long history of using his credentials to push the United States to meddle in India’s affairs. Interestingly, on 14th March, he questioned White House NSC Senior Director for Democracy & Human Rights Kelly Razzaouk in India’s democracy position. To his question, Razzaouk categorically said that the US was keeping an eye on the elections happening worldwide, including in India.
Earlier, during the same briefing, Mushfiqul was baffled by the fact that the US “did not meddle” in the elections that took place in Bangladesh. He stressed that the Biden administration promised to take all necessary steps to ensure a “free, fair, and credible election” as in other countries like Nigeria and Bulgaria.
Interestingly, Mushfiqul Fazal (Ansarey) is also a columnist at the propaganda portal The Wire. There are three articles under his name. In the first article he wrote in February 2024, Mushfiqul ranted against the US as Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister again. He called the elections “dummy” because the ruling party did not have to face any competition. He further claimed that there was “Indian” influence during the elections. He wrote, “The common sentiment towards India among the people is not favourable for the neighbouring country. Regardless of the significant backsliding of democracy in Bangladesh, attributing India as the enabler of that decline is certainly not a public relations boost. Thus, Delhi will have to face the consequences for the action or inaction of the US or China in Dhaka”.
His most recent article on The Wire was on the question he asked the US State Department Rep about Arvind Kejriwal and Congress. It was a basic report without much rants or glee.
According to a credible source, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey is also maintaining regular contacts with at least two covert diplomats at Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC who are suspected to be officers of Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). Islamabad was extremely happy at Ansarey for asking questions related to India’s domestic affairs and it is anticipated that this BNP member may onwards continue such notoriety by bringing-up many more topics related to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
