Online Desk  :   Lutfozzaman Babar, a popular BNP leader from Netrakona, was made the state minister for home affairs following the BNP’s landslide victory in October 2001 election. After he concluded his duty as the state minister for five consecutive years, a government based on conspiracy for depoliticisation appeared amid political unrest in the country. The government, led by Dr Fakhruddin and Moeen U Ahmed and said to be controlled by the Prothom Alo and The Daily Star, arrested Lutfozzaman Babar. Consequently, he had to spend a solitary life in prison for 17 years. He was 50 when he was sent to jail.

The BNP leader has recently been released after years of unprecedented suffering in false cases. All the cases against Babar were proved baseless and fictitious at the Supreme Court. Babar was released not by anyone’s mercy or compassion, but by the court order. The Prothom Alo, the spokesperson for depoliticisation in Bangladesh and the anti-nationalist newspaper, allegedly played the biggest role in snatching 17 years away from Babar’s life. Babar was said to be one of the individuals targeted by the Prothom Alo to bring 1/11.

There were allegations at that time that the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star continuously spread false propaganda and lies against Babar. The Bangla newspaper reportedly created the so-called context of the 21 August grenade attack case against Babar. The Supreme Court on 21 August acquitted Babar. The final judgment said that the allegations made in the case were fictitious and baseless. But this fictitious allegation was made by Prothom Alo’s controversial journalist Tipu Sultan. Not only that but Lutfozzaman Babar was also implicated in the 10-truck weapon case through Prothom Alo. The Prothom Alo and the Daily Star group also allegedly orchestrated the incident of 10 truckloads of weapons. India’s obedient the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star presented their report in such a way as to make it appear that the incident took place under the auspices of the then government.

The Prothom Alo published a baseless report quoting Babar. The report titled “Tarique asked Bashundhara for Tk100 crores with Khaleda Zia’s consent” mentions that Babar said this on remand. Babar has recently been released and called this statement a “damn lie”. Most importantly, what a person can and cannot say during remand is strictly confidential and disclosing it to the media is unethical and punishable by law. However, the Prothom Alo committed this punishable crime. Later, verification showed that no such incident happened. On 5 June 2007, the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star simultaneously published another report against Babar.

In that report it was said that there was “partisanship and money transaction in police recruitment” and everything was done by Babar, according to Prothom Alo’s fabricated and fictitious report. What Prothom Alo did was like a court delivering judgment on different issues. Prothom Alo claimed in that report that there were massive irregularities and corruption in police appointments when Lutfozzaman Babar was the state minister for home affairs. But there was no evidence in the report. From 2001 to 2006, Prothom Alo’s main task was to undermine the character of the BNP.

Not only that, this time their main goal was to defame and spread propaganda against Ziaur Rahman’s family. The Prothom Alo and the Daily Star are implementing a new strategy. They are trying to change masks and become BNP sympathisers. They are showing fake sympathy to Begum Zia as well so that no one remembers their past misdeeds. All Prothom Alo reports from 2007 and 2008 have been removed from the internet. However, those aware of its unethical and anti-national journalism have likely preserved printed editions, as Bangladesh still has unsettled issues with the newspaper.