Taking undue advantage of the recent mayhem in Bangladesh, which was perpetrated jointly by Al Qaeda connected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist and militancy outfits, including Hizb Ut Tahrir, Ansar Al Islam (local franchise of Al Qaeda), Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) – a local franchise of ISIS, Harkat ul Jihad Bangladesh (HuJI-B) and others – a number of paid propagandists and disinformation peddlers of BNP and Jamaat are running sinister propaganda targeting Bangladesh Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) as well as Bangladesh Armed Forces. Such sinister acts are led by a British national named David Bergman.

According to an article published in Indian newspaper, The Afternoon Voice, in 1986, when the Bhopal disaster caused by the Union Carbide killed 3,787 and affected five hundred thousand Indian nationals, David Bergman, lacking minimal moral ethics, joined hands with the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

In September 1986 during his youth at the age of 21, David Bergman was arrested in violation of India’s Foreigners Act and National Security Act and was accused of working for Union Carbide and for his frantic bids of hiding truth beneath disinformation and lies.

Being living in Britain, David Bergman, although portrays himself to be a journalist, in reality, he does not have any job. Decades back, the only job Bergman had was with a British TV program production company named Twenty Twenty, wherefrom he also was sacked on allegations of immoral and unprofessional behavior.

Another Islamist propagandist is an individual named Shahidul Alam, who is connected to Hizb Ut Tahrir and Jamaat-e-Islami. For years, Shahidul has been frantically attempting to globally tarnish the image of Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by spreading disinformation and vile propaganda.

In August 2018, Shahidul Alam gave an interview with Al Jazeera English, 2018 where he clearly incited riot by calling upon the students to start an anti-government movement. A case under ICT (information and communication technology) Act was filed against him for trying to oust an elected government.

One of the prominent Islamist propagandists is an individual named Zulkarnain Saer Sami with many aliases such as Zulkarnain Saer, alias Zulkarnain Saer Khan Sami alias Tanvir Md. Sadat, who was expelled from Hungary on a number of serious allegations, including connections with transnational drug-trafficking and money-laundering rackets as well as connections with militancy outfits such as Hezbollah and Hamas sought asylum in the United Kingdom with false claim of being a “victim of political harassment” in Bangladesh.

According to Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC), which is one of the most comprehensive compendiums of information and analysis of terrorist groups and activities in the world, jihadist Zulkarnain Saer Khan threatened to behead a Hindu rights activist and professor Kushal Baran Chakraborty in Chittagong, Bangladesh. He also regularly terms Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as “terrorist group”; brands leaders of RSS as “top terrorists”; runs vile propaganda against Hindus; and been plotting terrorist attacks on Israeli embassy as well as Jewish synagogues, homes, business establishments and Jewish community members in Britain.

Most importantly, though he is living in the United Kingdom for the past three years, Zulkarnain has no valid source of income, except for his alleged involvement in extortion, drug trafficking, money-laundering, terror-connection and operating human trafficking rackets that brings illegal immigrants to Britain through the English Channel.

Europe’s leading and most-influential multi-media news channel EuroNews, through a report titled ‘Cryptocurrency, drugs, money laundering: a Hungarian thread in the funding of Hamas’ has further exposed dangerous activities of this jihadist-terrorist.

It may be mentioned here that a large number of retired and sacked military personnel are maintaining regular contacts with Zulkarnain Saer Sami via Signal and Telegram apps as well as Proton Mail.

Following ongoing sinister propaganda and massive spread of disinformation targeting Bangladesh Armed Forces, the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPRD) issued a statement on July 28, 2024.

In the statement titled ‘Bangladesh Army is with the people in checking ongoing violence’ ISPRD stated:

The army has been deployed in their respective responsible areas since the morning of 20th July 2024 to provide overall security of public property and important government facilities in the deteriorating security situation across the country. The presence of the army along with other forces to control the law and order situation helped to quickly quell the anarchy.

False and misleading propaganda is being carried out against the Bangladesh Army in various foreign media and social media by some vested interest groups. Its main objective is supposed to tarnish the army’s image at home and abroad. It is to be noted that the Bangladesh Army is conducting activities with the help of the civil administration to restore the peace and security of the countrymen and bring back peace to the country’s law and order under the prevailing laws.

Bangladesh Army seeks the cooperation of the countrymen not to be misled by such misleading information and [fake] news of self-interested quarters. Bangladesh Army is and will always be with the people for the benefit of the people and for any need of the state.

It may be stated here that, while fake news peddlers and paid agents of BNP, Jamaat and Islamist-terrorist and militant groups have been running propaganda on Meta (formerly known as Facebook), YouTube, TikTok and even ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) for years, which is one of the main reasons of Western and international media’s misleading reports and opinion-editorials, Bangladesh authorities have been either lethargic or unable to effectively counter such notoriety, which has been causing damage to country’s reputation and image.

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