Fact-checking body Rumor Scanner has debunked the false claim regarding international sanctions on the army and Hasina's return to the country, which was propagated using the Bangla daily Kaler Kantho’s logo on the free domain site Blogspot.
The fact-checking watchdog called the claims using the Kaler Kantho logo about the international ban on the army and Hasina's return to the country false, reports BSS.
In an investigation, it found that Kaler Kantho did not publish any news regarding this matter. Rather, this fake claim was propagated, according to a report from Rumor Scanner on its website on Sunday.
Recently, the fact-checking body has seen multiple posts on social media with the headline "International sanctions on the army and the political situation in Bangladesh. Hasina is returning," quoting the national daily Kaler Kantho.
The posts on Facebook where this claim is being propagated mainly use Kaler Kantho's logo. However, Rumor Scanner found no evidence of any news publication of the said claim on the website or print edition of Kaler Kantho in the recent past.
The Internet Archive also did not find any information about the publication of this claim on the Kaler Kantho website.
While investigating the use of Kaler Kantho's name as a source, Rumor Scanner found a link to a purported news story on a free domain site on Blogspot.
Although the Kaler Kantho logo is used as the logo of the site, Awami League’s name has been used in its URL, and the name is given as Daily News BD Awami League.
Reading the purported news story, it claims, "Today, on December 22, a letter has been sent from the International Court of Justice to the Bangladesh Army, which has created a major crisis regarding Bangladesh's participation in the peace mission. The letter states that if Bangladesh does not take steps to bring the situation under control and overthrow the illegal government within 30 days, the UN may decide to send peacekeeping forces. Along with this, the Bangladesh Army will be permanently excluded from participating in peace missions. After this announcement, there has been unrest within the army. What will the army do? What will be the future of Bangladesh? There is a lot of tension in the country's politics at the moment, especially with the army's actions."
In the subsequent discussion, opinions and fabricated information were presented on various relevant issues, including the possibility of Sheikh Hasina’s return to the country.
Discussions on the International Court of Justice and sending a peacekeeping team to Bangladesh had been in the media news several times recently. Last September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session at the UN headquarters in New York, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan called on Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
At that time, Dr. Yunus wanted to know about the process of filing a case against those responsible for the genocide during the July-August revolution at the ICC.
According to a news report in the Daily Star last November, a complaint was filed with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, accusing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet, and associates of crimes against humanity.
Earlier, in early November, a complaint was filed against Dr. Muhammad Yunus and 62 others in the International Criminal Court under Article 15 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This complaint was filed by former mayor of Sylhet City Corporation Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, barrister and solicitor Nijhum Majumder, barrister Monirul Islam Manju, and chairman of “Gov Wise Limited” S Shakir Uddin.
A review of these news reports shows that although the current government and the previous Awami League government are mentioned in these complaints, no information related to the Bangladesh Army was found in these complaints.
As a result, it is pointless to receive a letter from this court to the Bangladesh Army without any complaint or case.
No such information has been received from other media outlets except Kaler Kantho.
On the other hand, earlier this month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of India spoke in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly session demanding the sending of UN peacekeeping forces to Bangladesh.
She later explained this statement. Calling for talks to resolve the ongoing tension between India and Bangladesh, she said, "I said this because whenever there is unrest or peace is disturbed in a country, the UN has its own peacekeeping force, which consists of people from different countries around the world. They are called peacekeepers. When there was chaos in Sri Lanka too, peacekeepers came. So if relations with India (Bangladesh) have deteriorated significantly, then India can tell the UN to send your peacekeeping force. At least so that people can get security."
However, no news about the UN's statement on this issue was found in the domestic and international media.
Therefore, the claims using the Kaler Kantho logo about the international ban on the army and Hasina's return to the country are completely false, Rumor Scanner concluded.
Bd-pratidin English/Fariha Nowshin Chinika
