DHAKA: Several international news agencies including, BBC, Reuters, AP and AFP, allegedly tried to prove in their reports that notorious Bangladeshi war criminal Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Rajakar was a ‘great person’.
The BBC in its report published on January 21 termed this cruel war crimes convict as a ‘cleric’.
The news item tilted “Bangladesh cleric Abul Kalam Azad sentenced to die for war crimes” said in its introduction: “A court in Bangladesh has sentenced a well-known Muslim cleric to death for crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war.”
This British news agency also termed the tribunal as ‘controversial’.
It reported: “Abul Kalam Azad`s conviction is the first verdict handed down by the controversial tribunal.”
While estimating the figure of the killing in the war of liberation, the BBC quoting some unknown researchers said, “… some researchers put the figure at between 3 lakh and 5 lakh.
But according to the government, more than 30 lakh people were killed in the genocide.
Such controversial reports published in the international media undoubtedly will harm its reputation and compel the Bangladeshi people and the family members of the victims think otherwise.
The BBC did not mention in brief why Bachchu Rajakar was accused in the case.
It also said the trial is motivated by the government but they did not mention that several opposition leaders also welcomed the verdict and people from different walks brought out gala procession over the verdict.
AFP in its article published on the same day termed Bachchu Rajakar as a ‘Televangelist’.
Televangelist is a person who regularly conducts religious services on television.
The AFP also termed the trial procedure as ‘controversial’.
This international media in a report titled “Televangelist to hang for Bangladesh war crimes” also said, “Bangladesh’s controversial war crimes court probing the nation`s bloody independence war has sentenced a top Islamic televangelist to death in its first conviction.”
It also termed the trial procedures as `Farcical`.
The AFP said the ICT was a ‘domestic tribunal with no international oversight.
It also reported that Bachchu Rajakar’s becoming a speaker at a top mosque in Dhaka and also said, “His TV shows are said to have helped shape the Muslim-majority country`s sufi-inspired Islam to that of the more austere Saudi-style Wahhabi Islam.”
On January 21, AP published a report that also termed Bachchu Rajakar as an ‘Islamist cleric.
Like BBC, AFP this international media also termed the trial procedure as “Controversial”.
In the story titled “Bangladesh war tribunal orders cleric executed”, the AP also said
Despite proof against Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami for their participating in killing, raping and torching house during the war of liberation in 1971, none of the media mentioned in their reports.
The media mentioned reactions of Jamaat but none of those media mentioned a single comment of victim’s family members.
The international media are same at two points. All of them said Azad was absconding in Pakistan.
Also all of the media mentioned right bodies’ reaction over the verdict.
Reuters in a story titled “Islamic cleric sentenced to death for Bangladesh war crimes” termed the war crimes convicted as ‘a popular Islamic televangelist’.
This media however said, “Abul Kalam Azad, a former member of Bangladesh`s biggest Islamist party, was found guilty of torture, rape and genocide during the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.”
BDST: 1820 HRS, JAN 23, 2013
Edited By: Palash Rahman, Newroom Editor/ M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor/ SM Salahuddin, Output Editor-eic@banglanews24.com
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