During the rule of the Awami League government, which was ousted in the mass uprising of August 5, 2024, many news outlets in the country frequently published propaganda reports against individuals and organisations holding opposing political views, often without supporting evidence. Following the uprising, many controversial reports published before August 5 without adequate evidence were quietly removed from various news outlets’ websites.

Before the 2018 national election, several mainstream news outlets published coordinated propaganda report series targeting the opposition at the time. Rather than presenting sufficient evidence, these reports spread allegations against opposition parties and their leaders by citing anonymous sources.

Bangla Tribune and Bangladesh Pratidin published one such series. Yesterday, after The Dissent published a report about a series of propaganda reports titled “Activities of Foreign Intelligence Agencies in the Country’s Politics,” published in December 2018 and still available on the website of Bangladesh Pratidin, owned by the Bashundhara Group, the reports were removed within hours without any explanation.

However, the reports removed by Bangladesh Pratidin had originally been published by Bangla Tribune, owned by the Gemcon Group of Kazi Nabil Ahmed, a former Awami League lawmaker whose party is now banned.

Bangla Tribune titled its five-report series “Activities of Foreign Intelligence Agencies in Politics.”

Although the headlines, series title and most of the paragraphs in the five reports were identical, Bangladesh Pratidin published them without crediting Bangla Tribune.

The Bangla Tribune reports made various unsubstantiated claims about current Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, his party the BNP, another opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the quota reform movement that took place that year. In particular, each report sought to portray how Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, was coordinating and holding meetings with these parties to influence various decisions.

The reports relied mainly on formulations such as “intelligence sources,” “the investigation has revealed,” “documents have shown” and “sources say.” However, no independently verifiable evidence was presented to support the claims.

Bangla Tribune published the five reports in the series “Activities of Foreign Intelligence Agencies in Politics” between December 19 and 21, 2018.

A report published on December 19 under the headline “ISI Pulling the Strings from Dubai” claimed that senior BNP and Jamaat leaders were in regular contact through an ISI agent based in Dubai, and that the contact also extended to Tarique Rahman, who was based in London.

The same report further claimed that the ISI was trying to influence the election and had sent a list of candidates to the BNP. However, BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain rejected the allegations as “false, fabricated and fake,” while Jamaat leaders also denied them.

The second instalment, published on the same day under the headline “Jamaat’s Longstanding Friendship with the ISI,” claimed that Jamaat leaders had held meetings with ISI agents in Saudi Arabia and that the two sides had discussed political strategies. These claims were also presented mainly on the basis of intelligence documents and sources. Meanwhile, Jamaat’s then Nayeb-e-Ameer, Professor Mia Golam Parwar, denied the allegations, saying that their politics did not depend on any foreign intelligence agency.

A report published on December 20 under the headline “Tarique Rahman Has Links with the ISI” claimed that Tarique Rahman had met senior ISI officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two sides maintained contact through a BNP leader based in Dubai.

The report further claimed that a list of the ISI’s preferred candidates for all 300 parliamentary seats had also been delivered to Tarique Rahman.

A report published on December 21 under the headline “BNP-Jamaat Candidate List Prepared by ISI!” claimed that the ISI had prepared a list of candidates for all 300 parliamentary seats and sent it to the BNP and Jamaat, and that Tarique Rahman had received the list. Although the report cited various “sources” and “intelligence documents” as the basis for the allegations, it did not publish any such documents or evidence.

The final instalment of the series, published on December 22 under the headline “ISI Trying to Win China Over!”, claimed that the BNP was trying to strengthen its political ties with China with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI.

The report further stated that purported documents of conversations between BNP leaders and the ISI contained information about these efforts, and that the ISI had also attempted to support the 2018 road safety movement.

The report also claimed that, with the ISI’s assistance, the BNP had planned to establish contact with China, conduct anti-Awami League government and anti-India propaganda, and influence public opinion through several news outlets and television talk shows. Although the report cited “intelligence sources,” “multiple sources” and “documents” to support these allegations, it did not publish any of the documents or information.

Following The Dissent’s report, Bangladesh Pratidin quietly removed its reports. However, as of the time of writing, the reports remain available on Bangla Tribune’s website.