From now on, the government will take legal action, if necessary, against those who publish false and misleading news.
Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary to the chief adviser, said that this at a press conference held at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Wednesday.
Azad Majumder said that the current interim government is very liberal regarding the freedom of the media. We always welcome criticism. No one has ever been given such a license to spread false news.
He said that some newspapers published on Wednesday published false, fake, baseless and misleading news about the National Freedom Fighters Council Ordinance. The CA's Press Wing contacted the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs to confirm this.
"We hope that the newspapers will admit their mistake. They will publish corrections and admissions of mistakes wherever they publish this news in the newspapers," he added.
Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said: "The reports published in various national dailies (Samakal, Jugantor and Ittefaq and various media outlets) on Wednesday said that the recognition of freedom fighters of more than a hundred leaders including president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and two ministers (Captain Mansur Ali and Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman) of the Mujibnagar government has been canceled. This report is completely false, fake, baseless and misleading."
He said: "I have spoken to the minister in charge of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs about this issue. He clearly told us that those who were in the Mujibnagar government were freedom fighters. Those who fought the liberation war with arms and those who led it were freedom fighters. All the officials and employees of that government were freedom fighters."
The deputy press secretary also said that according to the National Freedom Fighters Council Ordinance, diplomats including the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra are associated freedom fighters. Associate does not mean that their honour has been damaged.
He said that the definition of the liberation war that was in 1972 has been implemented. It was changed in 2018 and 2022. The honour, status and privileges of both freedom fighters and associates of freedom fighters will remain the same.
Ganabhaban will be ‘horror museum'
Presenting the information from the commission's report on disappearances at the briefing, the Chief Adviser's Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, said that the elite force known as RAB was involved in the disappearance, murder and torture of the highest number of people.
Shafiqul Alam said that the Commission on Disappearances submitted its second interim report to the interim government's Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, on Wednesday.
He said that a museum is being built in Ganabhaban to commemorate the July Uprising, and a "horror museum" will also be kept in one part of it. The commission's report has revealed how the victims were disappeared and how they were killed.
The report says that some of the victims were taken to a boat, killed, their stomachs cut open, cemented and thrown into the river, some were shot and injected. Some were killed again, packed in a train and left next to the train track, their bodies were crushed under the train and mutilated, sometimes they were thrown in front of a moving vehicle.
The Commission on Disappearances learned this information from the statements of the victims and those involved in the crime.
He said that the chief adviser advised the members of the commission on disappearances to open a website and publish every report there. He knew that the police had organized these murders in the hope of enjoying benefits.
Shafiqul Alam said that although they did not publish all the chapters of the report of the commission on disappearances for legal reasons, they would publish seven chapters in the media in stages through the press wing. Two chapters will be published every day.
He said that the report of the Commission on Disappearances revealed how torture is done and who the perpetrators were. RAB's intelligence unit alone was involved in the highest number of disappearances.
Shafiqul Alam said that in the previous report of the Commission on Disappearances, there were allegations of the disappearance of 1,770 people. In the second report, this number was reported to be about 1,850 people. He said that complaints from relatives of newly disappeared victims continued to be received until Tuesday.
He said that out of the total complaints received, 1,350 complaints of disappearances have been verified and sorted out. The relatives of the disappeared persons have narrated the detailed incidents in interviews with the commission.
In some cases, the interviews lasted for two to three hours, while in others, they lasted for several days.
Meanwhile, the chief adviser's press secretary also said that Dr Muhammad Yunus, will be going to the UK on a four-day visit on Monday. He will be accompanied by Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Dr Mohammad Abdul Momen.
Shafiqul Alam said that Sarah Cooke, the British high commissioner to Bangladesh, met with the chief adviser on Wednesday to discuss various issues of the upcoming visit. There will be a bilateral meeting on various issues of mutual interest, including a meeting with Prince Charles.
In response to a question, he said that the recovery of money that has been illegally smuggled from Bangladesh to the UK will also be discussed.
