The Bangladesh military has criticised a special story from Anandabazar Patrika for making misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the interim government welcoming Pakistani infiltration to help destabilise India.
The story violates the minimum journalistic norms at the very outset as it has no byline and begins with references to simply "sources" to justify its highly sensitive claims.
On Saturday, the Bangladesh Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a press release clarifying that though the army regularly holds training programmes with military forces of other countries, there is no plan for a Pakistani army officer to provide training at a Bangladesh army camp.
The Bangladesh army holds regular student exchange and training programmes in collaboration with army personnel from other countries for enhancing mutual understanding and strategic efficiency.
But the Bangladesh army remains steadfast in following international cooperation guidelines, neutrality and professionalism.
The army also procures arms and ammunition from other countries on a requirement basis, ISPR said adding ignorant opinions over such sensitive issues are unexpected, unjustifiable and objectionable.
The ISPR press release further questioned the minimum credibility of Anandabar report as it did not seek any comment or clarification from the Bangladesh military.
The press release requested all concerned to check with reliable sources before publishing any media article.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
