Bangladesh's win in UNHCR proves BNP's propaganda wrong: Hasan

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said Bangladesh's landslide win the UNHCR membership poll proved that all the propaganda spread by the BNP is wrong. 

He said this while talking to the media at his secretariat office on Wednesday, a day after Bangladesh bagged the a historic win in the election for the membership of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the term 2023-25.

The country has secured 160 votes among 189 casted ones in the polls held in United Nations General Assembly in New York.

He said: "We all kmow that BNP along with some other likeminded persons is spreading propaganda that Bangladesh is breaching human rights. They are creating confusion by supplying and circulating wrong information across the world. However, Bangladesh made success in the UNHCR membership elections amid those rumours."

"The victory proved that they failed to misguide the outsiders about the human rights situation in Bangladesh. This win ensured that we are on the right path led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,"  he added. 

Mentioning about the incidents of human rights violation durian Ziaur Rahman’s regime, he said: "Ziaur Rahman had killed hundreds of Army officials and jawans without any trial. He even executed many of them before the verdict comes. He even killed hundreds of Awami League members without any specific reason. We have documented proofs."

"Begum Khaleda Zia also followed his path. Her government was behind the 21 August grenade attack, killings of ex-finance minister Kibria, Ahsan Ullah Master and many more. She even didn’t hold any fair trial of those incidents," he added.

Referring to the incidents of petrol-bomb attacks on general people in 2013-14-15, he stated that BNP has violated the human rights by hurling petrol-bombs on people and burning them alive. 

"We are taking the matter to the global community. We don’t know what would be BNP leaders' answers regarding the force disappearances committed by their government?"

Regarding some statement issued by the Amnesty International, he said: "Amnesty's Irene Zubaida Khan is a cousin of Tarique Rahman's wife. So, those statements can be biased and meaningless."