In addition to spending millions on foreign lobbyists, a number of social media assets who poised themselves as independent whistleblowers are deployed by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, working to justify the combine’s undemocratic demands of burning voters alive to thwart polls.
Just like BNP central leaders brought a fake Biden advisor on October 28 at party headquarters to boost morale of activists to carry out violence, a number of rabble-rousers, including Zulkarnain Saer, indulged in a scheme of pushing smears and lies. They cite credulous, anonymous and unnamed sources, a clear marker that activists like Saer hold little credibility in terms of accuracy and authenticity of their claims.
The cabal stretches from former military officials who breached service rules and got sacked and some former press people turned activists who, like Saer, introduced themselves as whistleblowers.
Alarmingly, Saer has emerged as the doyen in the cabal who, in tune with BNP leaders, come down heavily on some diplomats who accepted the public mandate exercised by voters over arson attacks and anti-democratic demands employed by BNP-Jamaat in the months and weeks leading up to polls, in sync with demand for “usurping power without polls”.
A grisly spell of arson attacks, coupled with ruthless killing of law enforcers, burning down of polling stations, worship places, targeted intimidation of voters including minorities, threatening journalists to stop critical reportage against arson attack and physical assaults on journalists.
Pledges to enforce Sariah law and abolish all manmade laws by Jamaat, a princely ally of BNP, backed by high pitched street violence, including a deadly spell of attacks that left over 20 people dead and hundreds of vehicles torched as the country incurred billions in losses, to derail polls.
When the Philippines envoy congratulated the prime minister on election victory, Saer launched a veiled attack on the diplomat, calling him a “paid lobbyist of the AL government” and even poised as a top Philippine foreign official on diplomatic etiquette, questioned, “does this meet diplomatic protocol”. Such posts only expose his anger and frustration over failure to win over support of a number of foreign governments with a crafted disinformation galore that seeks to hide the gruelling involvement of BNP Jamaat men in arson attacks across the country since October 28.
In another self-serving foreign diplomatic sermon on the European Union (EU) envoy, Saer claimed “well done on horrible disgrace” in a show of dictating EU envoys with an implied meaning that Sear holds authority to serve foreign policy goals, following a post from the official Facebook account “EU in Bangladesh” as some photos, attached to the post, shows the “envoy in a scheduled diplomatic exchange with the Prime Minister”.
The envoys of France, Japan, Australia and India also fell victim to cyber-harassment from Saer alongside other self-claimed supporters of Tarique including Pinaki Bhattacharya, Mushfiq Fazal Ansari and Tasneem Khalil among others.
Both posts were cheered and shared by a number of BNP netizens, further exposing Saer serves the fodder for the social media cabal that acts on behalf of Tarique Rahman. The BNP acting chief is leading a fugitive life in London and is convicted in a litany of cases, including flagrant corruption and making hefty cuts from global companies in exchange for sealing lucrative government deals and funding militancy.
Stoking religious tension was another pointer in the campaign waged by BNP-Jamaat-backed assets, including Saer.
To glorify the country’s first military ruler General Ziaur Rahman, Saer even attacked the country’s top historians and families of those thousands of war heroes who were hanged without even a trial.
The pattern is distinct, on one side, these assets first vilify diplomats and circulate a rumour that contains inflammatory and inciteful remarks that hold the potential to stoke religious tension.
In the run-down to the polls, minority community leaders lodged a formal complaint with Election Commission with a number of accounts that they found stood accused of spreading communal content that seeks to embolden the radical group of Jamaat, an outfit that seeks to introduce Saariah law, if it succeeds in ascending to power.
“We found contents, highly inflammatory in nature, posted in a coordinated manner further echoed by radical handles who often peddle hate campaigns against minorities… We asked the EC to take necessary actions, at least take up such issues with Facebook authorities, to stop the spread of such hate campaign that can cause religious tensions,” said Ranjan Karmaker, a presidium member of country’s top minority platform.
“Of several accounts, we found Saer as an active hate preacher whose narratives are aligned with what fundamentalist forces seek to peddle before polls,” added Ranjan.
Moreover, several former US diplomats turned lobbyists for BNP namely Jon Danilowicz, and William B Mailam—both served brief stints in Dhaka as US diplomats in different regimes including the US-backed unelected military caretaker system—when Bangladesh’s not-so-celebrated noble winner, Dr Yunus, without any public support, made an abortive effort to be parachuted as a power monger, with all political leaders incarcerated in prison.
Another British lawyer Toby Cadman, who has long been on the payroll of Jamaat since the times of war crimes trial, has become vocal for imposition of sanctions on Bangladesh.
On the other hand, BNP has been exposed for faking cases of human rights and blowing death toll out of proportion to mislead the global community, supported by some rights bodies that also sought sanctions on current government based on their fake narratives.
Earlier, Khaleda Zia herself faked the numbers of victims of disappearances, putting the blame squarely on AL. Independent media reports exposed that the numbers she provided are inflated, and many of the cadres she claimed were victims of disappearance were found to have been living with their families.
Her heir apparent Tarique Rahman, ridiculed for his decade-old tactic of running the party solely relying on social media apps, has been frequently glorified by BNP handles and their assets. He is making an ignominious attempt to hide his present and past activities, like inventing and introducing anti-democratic formulas to grab power without polls and voters.