Saturday, August 3, 2013

Shahbag rises again, with fake facebook posts

random post was seen popping on various facebook pages such as that of ডাক্তার আইজূ, who fancies itself on being a great Shahbagi personality and মুক্তিযুদ্ধ’১৯৭১, another big pro-Shahbag page. I have found it to be a fake concocted piece of news of immense proportions. The pages referred to here are generally associated with pro Awami League content and are big fans of shoving Shahbag politics down your throat.

The random post in question was a purported news item on the Daily Manabzamin which was reposted by a page as follows,

দেশের রাজনৈতিক পরিস্থিতির কারণে একঘরে হয়ে যাবার কারনে জন নিন্দিত জামায়াতে ইসলামী এবং ইসলামী ছাত্রশিবিরের প্রায় পাঁচ শতাধিক নেতা পাকিস্তানে আশ্রয় প্রার্থনা করেছে।  আশ্রয় প্রক্রিয়া তত্ত্বাবধান করেছেন আন্তর্জাতিক অপরাধ ট্রাইব্যুনাল কর্তৃক ফাঁসির দন্ডাদেশপ্রাপ্ত আসামী আবুল কালাম আজাদ ওরফে বাচ্চু রাজাকার যিনি এই মুহূর্তে পাকিস্তানে অবস্থান করছেন। বিত্তবান নেতারা ইউরোপ এবং দুবাইকে আশ্রয়ের জন্য ্রাধান্য দিলে বেশিরভাগ নেতারাই পাকিস্তানকেই তাদের রাজনৈতিক আশ্রয়ের জন্য উত্তম স্থান হিসেবে বেঁচে নেয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছেন। জানা যায় জামায়তে ইসলামীর পাকিস্তান শাখা গত মাসে সরকারের কাছে আশ্রয়প্রার্থীদের একটি তালিকা জমা দিয়েছে। তালেবান সমর্থক গোষ্ঠীগুলোর পক্ষ থেকে জামায়াতকে সহায়তা দানের জন্য সরকারকে চাপ দেয়া হচ্ছে বলে তালেবান সুত্র থেকে জানা যায়।
জামায়াতের নেতাদের আশ্রয় প্রদানের জন্য বাংলাদেশের প্রধান বিরোধীদল বিএনপি চেয়ারপারসন বেগম খালেদা জিয়ার পক্ষ থেকে দুজন উপদেষ্টা পাকিস্তান সরকারকে অনুরোধ করেছে। জামায়াতের নিষিদ্ধ ঘোষনাকে কেন্দ্র করে বিএনপি এখন এককভাবে শক্তিশালী হওয়ার ব্যাপারে আশাবাদী।


The news item says that more than 500 senior leaders Jamaat and Shibir leaders have applied for asylum in Pakistan. A ridiculous post of epic proportions, the article claims that Abul Kalam Azad (who was given the death penalty earlier) was currently in Pakistan actively processing these asylum applications and that Taliban clans were pressing the government of Pakistan to accept the asylum applications of the Jamaat-Shibir leaders. The article further claimed that two advisors of Opposition leader Khaleda Zia had asked the Pakistani government to process the applications.   

With all due respect, an article could not be more fabricated with more outrageous claims. It has transcended the sphere of badass journalism into a sphere of lunacy. And more than 100 people have shared it already.

This was the alleged news item in a cropped picture posted on the facebook page:



These were the screenshots of the posts on the two facebook pages:


The ডাক্তার আইজূ page has a respectable following of 6800+ likes while the মুক্তিযুদ্ধ’১৯৭১ page has a whooping 20400+ likes, and one naturally assumes such pages to be respectable and responsible as well in their actions.

Unfortunately it was found that the said post was based on a fake photoshopped image of a superimposed article written on the Manab Zamin format. The posts were repeatedly asked for a verifiable link. No answer was given. The Manabzamin website (http://www.mzamin.com/index.php) was combed for any traces of such a news article. None was found.


It pains me to say that this fake article that was concocted in order to defame Jamaat and Shibir as organizations and provide false news into the news stream was still there as this blog post was written. I demand that this article be taken down at once and that the author immediately apologize on its facebook page for such a sleazy post. 


Stop this smear campaign NOW. 

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