Information Minister and Awami League joint general secretary Dr. Hassan Mahmood said, “BNP is lying to defend themselves in the face of nationwide criticism for writing anti-national conspiracy letter to foreigners.”
He said this while exchanging views with journalists in the conference room of the ministry at the secretariat on Wednesday. During the meeting, Hasan Mahmud presented letters signed by the BNP secretary general to various US departments and agreements with various lobbyist firms including the address of the BNP's Dhaka office.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister said, “The BNP has written letters to foreigners and hired lobbyists to cut off aid to Bangladesh, stop the country’s export trade, tarnish the country’s image and embarrass the country. Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Saheb has tried to defend himself by holding a press conference. He acknowledged in the press conference that he had written a letter to the foreigners, but denied the allegations.”
During this time Dr. Hassan shown the letters signed by Mirza Fakhrul in BNP’s official pad which was wrote to the Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Program Allocation on April 17, 2019, and to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Chairman of the Senate Sub-Committee on Near East, South and Central Asia and Counterterrorism on April 24, 2019. The minister read out the last paragraph of the letters and said, “The BNP has called for the use of US aid to Bangladesh as a weapon.”
The Information Minister pointed out the BNP’s agreements with the lobbyists and mentioned that the BNP had given their office address at 26 VIP Road, Naya Paltan, Dhaka, Bangladesh in several agreements signed by Abdus Sattar and they have made a similar agreement with a foreign address, signed by Ziaul Islam.
Questioning how can Mirza Fakhrul deny these documents? Hasan said, “The fact that the BNP leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul, are lying is a direct proof of the conspiracy they are hatching against the country. Not only that, they have been constantly lying about the health of Begum Khaleda Zia, it has been proved that Begum Zia recovered and returned home yesterday. That is, their whole politics is based on lies. I also have the question of how Mirza Fakhrul lied in the press conference despite the living evidence. When the whole nation is insulting them, he has tried to cover the fish with vegetables by holding a press conference in self-defense but it is not going to be covered. Political parties that do such things should not have the right to do politics in the country.”
Despite the BNP's repeated attempts to embarrass the country by lies, conspiracies and lobbies against the country, Bangladesh has recently been elected as the chairman of the UN Peace Building Commission, the United States is also a member of that commission, the minister said.
He also said that Gregory W. Mix, a member of the United States Congress and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the United States would continue to work with the Bangladesh government. So I will request the BNP to stop the anti-national conspiracies and propaganda. 'In response to a question from reporters about Begum Zia's recovery, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud said, “In fact, the BNP is deeply hurt and frustrated that Begum Khaleda Zia has returned home because there is no more opportunity to confuse the people.”
