Govt urges Indian journos to visit Bangladesh to observe reality

The interim government has urged the Indian journalists to visit Bangladesh to observe what is happening on the ground here.

“We are inviting them (Indian media) to come here (in Bangladesh),” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital Tuesday evening.

He said it has been observed that an effort continues to spread misinformation against Bangladesh over some recent incidents, while Indian media is aggressively doing this work.

“By forging national unity, we have to ask the Indian media to visit here to see what is happening. At the same time, we must maintain our national unity. Our national unity is urgent now as a certain kind of misinformation is spreading against our country,” Alam said.

“We must resist the misinformation campaign unitedly,” he insisted.

He also urged the Bangladeshi newspapers to come forward to combat the misinformation spreading against Bangladesh, terming it a national responsibility.

The press secretary said Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus talked to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in late August and during their talks, he asked Modi to encourage Indian journalists so that they visit Bangladesh to inquire what is happening here – whether there is any violence here.

Claiming that the Indian media are collecting information from their liking and unnamed sources, he said Netra News has shown the Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council’s report on repression of minorities was distorted.

Alam said the government is also calling upon the international human rights bodies and global media to visit Bangladesh to observe the reality as it is very transparent in its activities.

Replying to a question, he said without checking their news, Indian media is spreading falsehood and as a result, one section of Indian people is inciting the violence there.

Responding to another query, Alam said India is a big neighbour of Bangladesh. “We want good relations with India but it should be based on equity and fairness,” he added.

Chief Adviser’s deputy press secretaries Abul Kalam Azad Majumder and Apurba Jahangir were also present at the press briefing.