Ishraque slams Amar Desh for publishing lies, aiding extremists

Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor and BNP leader Ishraque Hossain has severely criticised the daily Amar Desh newspaper, run by unpopular extremist patron Mahmudur Rahman, for spreading lies and hatred against him.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Ishraque warned that the newspaper will not succeed in working as a mouthpiece of fundamentalist groups and the National Citizen Party (NCP).

The Amar Desh is a useless and rubbish newspaper, he said.

The controversial newspaper started printing again in December last year after Mahmudur Rahman returned from Malaysia after a long time. He is accused of planning and coordinating violence by banned militant groups, Jamaat-Shibir and Qawmi madrasa-based organisations, for a long time. On his return, the Yunus-led government conferred on him the Ekushey Padak.

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Ishraque said the Amar Desh newspaper has no neutrality. They ran news with completely fabricated statements, photo cards and YouTube videos.

This newspaper gained public support in the 2010s when it published Skype conversations. “But I don’t know why this newspaper is spreading fake news. I don’t know why it is attacking me personally.”

Earlier, Ishraque said the LGRD adviser, Asif Mahmud, violated the court orders by not administering his oath even though the Election Commission published the gazette on March 27. Since then, the city corporation employees have been staging demonstrations.

On Sunday, they relaxed their programme and declared the resumption of services, following which the Nagar Bhaban returned to normalcy on Monday.

On June 16, Ishraque participated in a meeting to exchange views at the Nagar Bhaban despite being unable to be sworn in as mayor.

In the banner of the meeting, Ishraque was addressed as Honourable Mayor.

On June 17, Ishraque demanded Asif Mahmud’s resignation and said: “By presenting dishonest and misleading information in the media, [Asif Mahmud] Shojib Bhuyain has lost the moral right to remain in his position as local government adviser. He has violated his oath. We demand his resignation on the grounds of oath violation.”