160 sacks of rice became 16 corpses!

Wednesday afternoon. I was sitting in the office watching Bangladesh-India ODI match. I was impressed by Mehdi Hasan Miraj's batting. In the meantime, I was getting so many calls but didn't notice in the excitement of the game. I picked up the phone after the Bangladesh innings was over. One gasped in excitement. Brother have you heard the news? A lot of people died in the BNP-police clash in Naya Paltan. Several leaders were also arrested. I changed the tv to a news channel. BNP clashed with the police and one person died in that clash. The person who died is not a worker of any political party. He is just an innocent citizen. Those who have a minimum knowledge of Bangladesh's political past know that this kind of violence is a very old culture. There have been clash between police nad political party in the movement at various times before and after independence. Not only in Bangladesh, but in various movements of the world, the police are the main opponents of the agitators. In the United States, there have been clashes with the police in the movement over 'Black Lives Matters' or Anti-abortion laws. Recently there was a movement against the restrictions of Corona in China. For the past few days, a special operation has been going on in Germany against the conspiracy to overthrow the government. So far they have arrested 25 people. What is currently happening in Bangladesh with all these movements is completely absurd. BNP has called a rally in Dhaka on December 10. The party has been holding rallies in various divisional cities continuously for the past two months. But before the rally in Dhaka, BNP themselves instigated the situation. A BNP leader announced that from December 10, the country will follow the words of Begum Khaleda Zia. Another leader said Begum Zia will be brought to Naya paltan rally. Some said, from that day onwards, they will not leave the street until the fall of the government. One even showed Red Card to the government. But police said, there will be no rally in Naya paltan. They suggested to hold rally in Suhrawardy udyan or any other field. But BNP disagreed. Meanwhile, the BNP leaders and workers started taking positions in the Naya Paltan from December 7 afternoon and involved in clash with police. An innocent person lost his life. This is what BNP wanted. Police then raided the BNP office and recovered 160 sacks of rice. I am not aware of any relief activities that BNP has carried out recently. So why so much rice? Because, BNP wanted to block a busy road of Dhaka by holding a 'Khichuri festival'. Let alone the recovery of bombs. But I saw at night, the air became heavy with rumours. 160 sacks of rice became sixteen bodies. I saw rumors of death of many people through social media. The United States, the United Nations made a statement! Expressed concern over crackdown on peaceful assembly. It seems that this is the first time such an incident has happened in Bangladesh. What a surprise! What a wonder! Propaganda knows no boundaries. In no way can this movement be called an intense mass movement to overthrow the government. But social media and some mainstream media outlets are hyping it up as if a tempestuous incident is happening in the country. The main accessory of this alleged movement is 'rumour'. Various rumors are being spread constantly. In the last few months, 'rumors' have been used as the main weapon to to fuel the movement and bring down the government. Politics, economics, human rights, foreign policy and international relations are all part of a multi-pronged attempt to topple the government with planned rumours. Rumors are now being used as a major weapon to overthrow the government. Trying to prove that Bangladesh is almost economically bankrupt by spreading rumours. No foreign exchange reserves. No money in the bank. etc. The interesting thing is that rumors were earlier spread through social media like Facebook, YouTube etc. Some convicts and fugitives sitting in different parts of foreign countries tried to mislead people by giving false or manipulated information. Now the issue of spreading these rumors is not limited to social media only. Rather, some mainstream media and some prominent civil servants have taken great responsibility for creating and spreading rumours. Let me give you an example. Last Tuesday, a famous English daily published a news related to the debt of a business organization. The recently departed Chief Secretary of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong were also involved in that news. The news was presented in such a way that a reader would easily think that, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, his Principal Secretary had asked the Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong to investigate the loan matter. But on the same day, the chief secretary expressed surprise at this false news in the media. He said 'I am a surprised'. At other times, only a letter of protest from the Prime Minister's office would have been sent to the newspaper. But this time the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister frankly told the falsehood of this newspaper in the media. If a leading and influential daily of the country can print a fictitious story about the Prime Minister's office and a Deputy Commissioner, then one can easily imagine the dire form the 'rumour' has taken. Bangladesh Bank is responsible for investigating loan related issues. However, the Prime Minister's office was fully implicated in the report.

This rumor terror started even earlier. When the economic crisis intensified in Sri Lanka. That's when our familiar Civils started drumming up the first rumours. Some said that Bangladesh is on the way to become Sri Lanka. It took Bangladesh's mainstream media by storm. Some of the civilly controlled newspapers presented the details of how Bangladesh is becoming Sri Lanka. An influential daily wrote that 'In October November the situation in Bangladesh will become like Sri Lanka'. November is over. The second week of December is underway. Bangladesh has not become Sri Lanka. Rather, it is said that Bangladesh is going to become a trillion-dollar economy. Recently, the global management organization 'Boston Consulting Group' (BCG) conducted a study on the economy of Bangladesh. According to their report, the economy of Bangladesh is progressing in many ways. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has emerged as a growing economy, leaving behind countries like Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Thailand. But the pundits of this country have made Bangladesh almost bankrupt. Social media is abuzz with this contrived 'rumour' of pundits and mainstream media. 'Sri Lanka' rumors were suppressed, on the human rights issue. An international human rights organization controlled by the anti-independence movement has been active for quite some time with the disappearance of 76 people. This organization called Human Rights Watch started rumors against Bangladesh from the time of trial of war criminals. This organization was employed as a lobbying firm by war criminal families at the time. As a lobbying firm, the organization started presenting the trials of war criminals as 'human rights violations'. In order to rationalize and substantiate their claims, disguised 'second-generation Razakars' are hired. Hired foreigners who have contact in Bangladesh. To implement that plan, they brought Dr. Kamal Hossain's son-in-law David Bergman. Added members of the anti-independence family. For example, Adilur Rahman Khan of 'Adhikari', Syed Rezwana Hasan of BELA, Shahidul Alam of Drik. David Bergman took a public stand on behalf of war criminals. The other three are two faced. Civil on the outside, Rajakar on the inside. They bring the issue of human rights to the fore. Their main weapon is 'rumour'.

Adilur Rahman Khan was the first to start using the remedy of 'Rumor'. In May 2013, his organization 'Adhikar' reported the death of 61 people during the riots of Hefajat Islam. Such kind of news is liked by the West. They embrace it. Later, it was seen that those who were killed by Adilur Rahman are all alive and are studying in madrasa. Syed Rezwana Hasan started the chapter of ‘Disappearance’ in Bangladesh. She did an extraordinary experiment disappearing her husband. Fortunately, the law enforcement agencies were able to rescue him quickly. Basically, after the investigation of the disappearance of this environmental lawyer, the wave disappearance episodes started in Bangladesh. A lobbyist firm hired by war criminals publishes a list of missing persons in Bangladesh. This list is accepted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights without verification. Later it was found that some of the missing are in Indian jails. Someone is safe at home. Someone comes back and tells the fairy tale of disappearance. Bangladesh is probably the only country in the world where missing persons return that too sound and alive. What a magic! Now the campaign about missing has stopped. But the damage is done to Bangladesh. Last year, the United States imposed sanctions on RAB on International Human Rights Day on December 10. US sanctions are a process of their own. The ban has been imposed on thousands of individuals and organizations in different countries around the world. The US had also imposed sanctions on Narendra Modi. But after Modi became the Prime Minister, the United States welcomed him with an unprecedented reception. The United States exerts various pressures on various countries for its own interests and international strategy. It has nothing to do with human rights or democracy. The United States wants to keep Bangladesh under pressure for many reasons, including Bangladesh not joining the 'Quad', growing economic relations with China, good relations with Russia, Dr. Yunus and many more. That's why Human Rights Watch's information and reports give them an opportunity to put pressure on Bangladesh. That is why the United States has banned RAB. The news of thee ban also came on the Human Rights Day last year. Immediately, the civil society, some mass media erupted with joy. Such is their victory. A flood of rumors about the disappearance began. After that various campaigns started through social media. The story of 'Mirror House' beats even a thriller. This time, the fury of rumors the ban has started spreading through different media long before December 10. Some like astrologers have started saying who will be banned and when. Even the list of what sanctions will be imposed on Bangladesh if the BNP does not come to the polls is circulating on social media. When the government announced the whereabouts of several 'disappeared' people, the rumors about disappearances stopped but the rumors about human rights did not. Prior to the Human Rights Day, 15 countries including the European Union issued a long statement on the human rights situation in Bangladesh on December 6. 15 countries including USA, UK, Japan, and Australia have emphasized on free and fair electoral process. It is a good thing. But my question is, did these Quad countries condemn the heinous and killing on August 15, 1975? No. Did these countries request the then Bangladesh government to repeal black laws like the Indemnity Ordinance? They didn’t. Did these countries condemn the grenade attack of 21st August 2004? Was anyone banned for this barbaric attack? So why is there so much talk about peaceful assembly, rule of law, good governance and justice? Why people are crying out loud over human rights so much? The reasons for this are twofold: First, Bangladesh should withdraw from its independent self-contained position and become completely loyal to them. Secondly, they are distracted and misled by the second generation rumors of disappearance by the anti-independence groups. Those who committed the most and worst human rights violations in history in 1971 are now the contractors of human rights. The heirs of ‘Razakars’ are now the guardians of human rights in Bangladesh. The third example of how they spread rumors and try to embarrass the government is Drik's Shahidul Alam. The lies spread by this Razakar's child in the Safe Roads Movement were a shock to Goebbels. Again, civil society controlled newspapers tried to make him a rare figure all the time. Making human rights issues fodder for the West, our civilized and mainstream media is now on a mission to break the backbone of the banking sector. Rumors are being thrown from all sides in the banking sector of Bangladesh. Mainstream media, civil society, social media and some rumour-loving people are daily telling stories of banking sector destruction. I wake up in the morning and hear that 10 banks are closing. In the afternoon, I hear that some of the banks are not able to pay. When I come home at night, my wife panics when she hears from someone that all Islamic banks are closing down. How many rumors do you hear? But go a little deeper, you will find out that that the banks are still running as it was before. Despite the Hallmark scam, Sonali Bank's depositors have not recovered their money. The Basic Bank survived after the horrific loan fraud. Farmers Bank has not lost a single Taka even after various crises. So how come a stablished bank like Islami Bank will go bankrupt with loans? How absurd these rumors are? Rumors will never be true never be sustainable. But I would like to give an example of the terrible damage done by rumours. 1.07 Pm in the afternoon. The Associated Press (AP), one of the most influential news organizations in the world, published a tweet. It says that there has been an explosion in the White House. President Barack Obama has been injured. Panic spread worldwide. The news instantly went viral and had a direct impact on the stock market. 136.5 billion dollars disappeared from the stock market in just three minutes. In the face of rumors, White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a press conference that nothing of the sort happened. Barack Obama is healthy. AP then reported that their Twitter ID was hacked and the rumor was spread. This is just one example of the terrible damage that rumors can do. Bangladesh is now flooded with rumours. From Facebook, YouTube to mainstream media. From the civil society to the politicians, everyone is now playing with rumors. Common people of this country are being harassed by rumours. Not agitations or rallies, but concerted effort to oust the government is now visible through rumours. So the question is, how do you stop rumours? By convincingly presenting the truth. As White House representative Jay Carney did. People believed him. He was the first to take a stand against the rumours. But the government in Bangladesh remains indifferent and apathetic to the rumours. It seems like they don't care. After the rumours are spread and the damage is done, people in the government are talking and calling the rumors false. Again, due to various reasons, the words of most of the people in the government are not trusted by the common people. The culture of mistrust of official statements is long-standing in this country. The country is flooded with rumors. The government should find a way to save the people as soon as possible. Otherwise everything will be washed away in a flood of rumours.