Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity voices disappointment over US envoy’s remarks on visa restrictions against media

Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has expressed disappointment over the recent remarks by US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas that local media and journalists would also fall under the much-hyped US visa curbs.

A statement signed by the organisation's General Secretary Rana Dasgupta on Saturday said the announcement of applying visa curbs on the media clearly stands in stark contrast to a series of earlier statements made by Haas involving the status of freedom of press in Bangladesh, given media acts as the fourth pillar of a state.

"In our country, we found media taking up an instrumental role in creating awareness against radical forces, militants, war criminals and terrorist outfits like Jamaat-e-Islami that consists of war criminals and seeks to eliminate progressive and secular forces including religious and ethnic minorities and establish a Taliban style rule in Bangladesh," it reads.

The statement says it has come across media reports on concerns raised by Sampadak Parishad in a letter to the ambassador where editors have raised questions: "how will it be used in case of media?" and "what are the factors being considered?"

In reply, the US ambassador refrained from offering any detailed answer to these questions but defended his position, which has left the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council in shock, stated the statement.

The statement notes that Haas' remark on imposing visa restrictions on the media has been glorified by radical outfits and anti-liberation quarters that publicly decry Western values, deem free thinkers as enemies of Islam and vouch for impunity for war criminals who committed genocide and crimes against humanity in 1971.

Basherkella – a social media platform that acts as a mouthpiece for Jamaat-e-Islami, advocates for impunity of war criminals and reportedly stands exposed for running a hate campaign against secular and liberal forces alongside minorities as well – has already hailed the US ambassador's remark on the inclusion of media persons under visa restrictions and called him "a true friend of Bangladesh," according to the statement.

This very handle has also found vocal justification for the killing of bloggers and free thinkers in the past. It even unleashed a barrage of vitriol against media persons as they remained vocal against communal forces. As Basherkella echoed the statement of Haas, it sends a chilling message for every secular person, says the statement.

The organisation also noted that the US State Department spokesperson refrained from mentioning media in the policy, but Haas did not withdraw his statement.

Already decried by some senior journalists, this move, if applied on media, would clearly bar media outlets to run critical reportage on a contradictory foreign policy pursued by Haas on Bangladesh, the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council statement says.

The Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council statement also says that the US commitment to upholding justice does not match actions, as the country continuously sheltered the convicted and self-confessed killer of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.