Tasneem Khalil has so far spread rumours regarding the Bangladesh government, the army and the RAB. He even spread fake news about the United Nations. He also regularly instigates the country’s fanatic and extremist groups. In a bid to hide his anti-state activities and get shelter from the journalist community, he claims himself as a journalist. He along with David Bergam also ventured for a propaganda website named Netra News. But are they really journalists? What type of journalists are they? Does investigative journalism mean inciting extremism and posting the whimsical status on Facebook about the state, government and key institutions? Let’s have a look at some of their recent anti-state conspiracies and failures.
A few days ago, Tasneem Khalil tried to provoke the extremists by twisting the information of the death of a prisoner convicted of sabotage. He wrote on his Facebook status: “Hefazat leader Maulana Iqbal Hossain died in custody. The Awami League is responsible for this death. All political prisoners must be released. Torture in custody needs to be stopped.”
Apparently, it may seem like a post protesting the death. But the reality and intention are quite different. According to our mainstream media reports: When Hefazat leader Iqbal Hossain fell ill in jail after being detained in a specific case, he was sent to the hospital for treatment immediately. The man, who was sent to the hospital for treatment on May 11, died on May 20. In other words, he was under treatment in the hospital for a few days and he was kept in the Intensive Care Unit. So in no way did he die in prison.
Hiding the main information, Tasneem Khalil wanted to destabilize the country by inciting extremists with religious trump cards.
In the same way, they released a thriller on Al Jazeera that provided twisted information mixed with truth and falsehood. He later posted a status on Facebook saying: “The United Nations has called for a detail investigation into the corruption and illegal activities of the Bangladesh Army after a number of incidents were reported in Al Jazeera’s investigative report on Monday.” He also wrote about the then army chief: “Is it good that they created trouble [for the army] with the United Nations while covering General Aziz, like Israeli EMC Catcher in Peace Keeping Mission? Handle it now.”
But the reality is that the UN has never paid any heed to Al Jazeera’s purposeful thriller news [say Views, not News].
Lies about the Army and the UN:
Tasneem Khalil is a man who has never been a mainstream journalist. But he went to Sweden and pretended to be the editor of an underground web portal with the money of the American intelligence agency. In the name of journalism, he uttered the words of objectivity. But to discredit Bangladesh internationally, he is constantly lying. He even got involved in a dirty game with the country’s defence forces. In addition to the propaganda machine Netra News, he also regularly spreads rumours about the army and UN missions on his Facebook account and YouTube channel.
“The United Nations has called for a detail investigation into the corruption and illegal activities of the Bangladesh Army,” Tasneem Khalil wrote on his personal Facebook profile and Netra News, quoting a UN spokesman.
But in a real sense, no UN spokesman has commented on the matter. The United Nations has not said anything about the Bangladesh Army or the activities of the Bangladesh Army in the UN mission. On the contrary, in response to a question on the issue, the UN spokesperson termed the matter as an ‘internal matter of Bangladesh’ and if there is any allegation, it should be investigated by the concerned department of Bangladesh.
He even made posted misleading status about the army on Facebook. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Is it good that they created trouble [for the army] with the United Nations while covering General Aziz, like Israeli EMC Catcher in Peace Keeping Mission? Handle it now.”
The tactic that Tasneem Khalil has tried to play is to create instability within the army. But the UN has not said a word about Bangladesh. Even in UN peacekeeping missions, Bangladesh’s activities are going on normally. UN observers have come to understand the fabricated and aggressive news of Tasneem Khalil on Al Jazeera. That is why they did not feel the need to discuss the matter.
As a result, he failed to provide the thriller to Human Rights Watch, the US Senate and several other places. But in the end, he failed. Amid his continued mischievous efforts, General Aziz attended regular meetings with officials from the US military and the UN peacekeeping missions. As a result, Al-Jazeera’s report or Netra News and Tasneem Khalil and David Bergman failed to play a negative role in the Bangladesh Army.
Rumours and Provocations about RAB:
In October last year, Tasneem Khalil also spread rumours about RAB on Facebook. He wrote, “Are brothers of the current and former commander of the RAB reciting prayers? It will be serious if the name is included in the sanction list of the US.” His main purpose was to create controversy with RAB through these words.
However, the reality is that it is going to be almost a year since he gave this post. However, the US State Department did not respond to Khalil.
Netra News on Mission to Spread Anti-government Hatred in Name of Journalism:
Tasneem Khalil and David Bergman have personal grievances against the current government and the head of government, which is evident in their use of speech and language at different times. At the same time, the source of money for Netra News is making it clear why they are discussing these issues.
To establish himself as a journalist, Tasneem Khalil said that Netra News received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-governmental organization in the United States. After announcing this, Tasneem added that NED is helping those independent media outlets around the world who speak out against human rights abuses. According to his statement, Netra News was established in 2019.
But the reality is that the NED finances the US intelligence mission. And Netra News is playing a role in implementing NED’s agenda.
On the other hand, Tasneem Khalil’s partner David Bergman once was staying in Bangladesh. He married the opposition leader Dr Kamal Hossain’s daughter. So, Bergman is opposing the current government because of family ties. He even mocked the Liberation War. Earlier, Bergman was fired for negligence and moral turpitude in various news organizations in Bangladesh. Now he goes abroad and claims to be an expert on Bangladesh. Working as a lobbyist for the war criminals, this man introduced himself as a British journalist on the one hand, and on the other hand, he joined hands with the BNP-Jamaat activists in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in London.
Notice that while the United Nations is praising Bangladesh for cracking down on fundamentalism and militancy, Tasneem Khalil and Bergman have been directly involved in anti-government conspiracies in favour of fundamentalism.
In a December 4 post, Tasneem wrote, “If anyone wants to hold an anti-sculpture procession, it is the job of the police to ensure their safety, not to attack or disperse the procession.” However, Tasneem Khalil is pretending not to see how any conspiracy and rally against the national interest is dealt with worldwide. He pretended not to see how police removed people from anti-lockdown protests in London or police actions to stop Trump supporters in front of the White House. And he instigated the fundamentalists of Bangladesh to vandalize the sculpture and support the movement to continue that vandalism. So now people want to know whether it is just personal resentment, opposing the government or its native affection towards the fundamentalists.
Attempt to Thwart govt Plan to Build LPG Terminal:
Power and energy sector is one of the key areas where Awami League government has been tremendously successful. The government has been able to provide electricity to 100% of the people in the last one decade. Steps to ensure low-cost gas for people is underway. The government previously fixed the price of LPG several times, but the traders did not accept it out of greed for more profit. That is why the government is planning to import LPG and thinking of constructing an LPG terminal at Moheshkhali sea in Cox’s Bazar to this end. However, the government has no investment here as it is just giving the land not spending a single penny. It is a Japanese company that has expressed interest in constructing the terminal at its own expense. But, neither has formal agreement been signed yet nor its feasibility been verified.
However, once this plan is implemented, 10 to 12 lakh tonnes of LPG can be supplied to people annually. Then the price of the most used 12 kg LPG cylinder will drop by Tk 300. Then the government will increase the supply of gas, as a result traders will be forced to reduce profits. They will not be able to increase the price of LPG. So, a cycle of LPG traders has started opposing the government initiative from the very beginning. And recently Netranews gang has started spreading propaganda to ruin the plan in exchange for big money from the traders. But the media and the people of Bangladesh have become aware of the intention of Netra News gang. However, Tasneem Khalil’s clique has started a targeted propaganda at the beginning of the Moheshkhali LPG-terminal construction plan like the conspiracy to halt Padma Bridge project construction.
Let’s have a look at the conspiracy to halt the Padma Bridge project as Netranews patroness are following the same way. In fact, after announcing the construction of the Padma Bridge, the Awami League government started negotiating loans and cooperation with international donor groups, but at the same time, the BNP-Jamaat conspirators brought a vague and fake allegation of corruption. Their intention was to thwart the project and hinder the development of the country. That is why they started propaganda in home and abroad spending lots of money. But not a single penny of the Padma Bridge project fund was released yet. The Canadian court later ruled that the Padma Bridge corruption was nothing but a rumour and speculation and had no real basis, The court also observed that there was no question of corruption where money was not released. But the BNP-Jamaat lobbyists immediately started spreading the propaganda of corruption massively and stunned the world community with rising doubts in their minds. Later, world leaders got to understand the whole issue and congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for constructing the Padma Bridge with her own funds. Today they are calling Bangladesh as a role model.
Tasnim-Bergman and Their So-called Objective Journalism:
Personal resentment towards Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also expressed throughout Tasneem Khalil’s Facebook profile. This so-called and self-proclaimed ‘objective’ journalist distorts the name of the Prime Minister in all the posts.
If Tasneem Khalil and Bergman’s writings, speeches and activities are called journalism, what is the name of this type of journalism? Is it really the journalism that exists anywhere on any planet at all? Or it is complete fraudulence by a group of people in daylight? It is high time to ponder over this issue.
