Stop giving publicity to ‘nuisance’
Momen tells media about foreign missions’ concern over internal matters
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen advised the media not to provide publicity to foreign missions' statements expressing concern over Bangladesh's internal issues and termed it a nuisance.
"Bangladesh never expresses concern over something in the US or elsewhere…this should be boycotted. You should stop giving publicity to this sort of nuisance," he told reporters at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.
He referred to a statement by 13 heads of foreign missions in Bangladesh on Friday, expressing concern over the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in Kashimpur jail and urging the government to launch a swift, transparent, and independent investigation into the circumstances of his death.
Mushtaq had been held in pre-trial detention since May 5, 2020, under the Digital Security Act (DSA). He was denied bail six times before he died on February 24. His death triggered condemnation and demonstrations across the country against the DSA.
Foreign Minister Momen said the American media would never entertain such remarks if the Bangladesh ambassador expressed concern over the killings in schools, malls or restaurants although mass shootings lead to many deaths in America.
"Ours is a strange country. We don't know why he died, but find the foreigners concerned. And our media publish it too," he told reporters after his visit to the US from Feb 23-27.
Death in jail is quite common in the US, he said, referring to his visit to American prisons during his stay in the US a few years ago.
During the latest visit to Washington, he met with US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Presidential Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry, and several Congressmen, and participated in webinars on the Rohingya crisis, the US-Bangladesh relationship, trade, and investment.
Momen also met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, gave interviews to Washington Post, Voice of America and a Bangla newspaper.
Asked if there were discussions on the Al Jazeera report "All the Prime Minister's Men", he said only the journalists from a few Bangla TV channels had questions about it.
He termed the Al Jazeera report "nothing but drama" devoid of facts.
Some people found that Al Jazeera showed General Aziz going to Malaysia from Singapore and his brother going to the airport to receive him in Kuala Lumpur. But the location where his brother went was actually a European airport, because there were logos of Europe in the background, he said.
"When General Aziz was getting into the car [in Kuala Lumpur]... the car his brother was shown getting into had European number plate, but General Aziz was in the car with a Kuala Lumpur number plate. They [Al Jazeera] could not make a good match. Cut and paste have not worked well…" he said.
About the surveillance equipment that the Al Jazeera report refers to, Momen said many peacekeepers died in Darfur and each had to be compensated with $70,000.
It was 2016 when AK Abdul Momen was Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN. During that time, the US took a strong initiative to reduce the deaths of peacekeepers.
"They spoke of providing surveillance equipment to the peacekeepers to reduce the number of deaths. We were then the number one peacekeeper-sending nation. So, we agreed to it. Many countries initially did not agree, but they finally agreed."
After searching a lot, Bangladesh found a Hong Kong-based dealer and signed a deal with it in 2016. That company supplied the surveillance equipment in 2018 from Hungary, he said.
"General Aziz was not the chief of the army then. He was then the head of BGB. He had no role to play… Therefore, linking General Aziz and his brother behind the purchase of the surveillance equipment is baseless… the drama had not been performed properly."
It cannot be said that General Aziz is a bad person if his brother is bad, the foreign minister said.
"If there was any fact in the allegations, we would have definitely investigated it. Al Jazeera's information, in that case, would have been helpful. If you media people provide us with the correct information, it will always be helpful to us.
"Al Jazeera said his brothers are bad persons, therefore, he [Gen Aziz] is also a bad person. This is not factual," Momen said.