Activists rally against Al Jazeera ‘distortion’ of Bangladesh history

A group of online activists carried out a rally in Dhaka Saturday, alleging Al Jazeera had tried to distort the history of Bangladesh’s Liberation War of 1971.

The protesters asked the Qatar-based news channel to ‘refrain from yellow journalism’ and ‘not try to save the war criminals’.

Leaders of several students’ groups including one of the key organisers of Ganajagaran Mancha, Mahmudul Haque Munsi addressed the rally in front of the National Press Club.

Their protest was against a recent report run by Al Jazeera where it was said that 300,000 to 500,000 people were killed in the war against Pakistan in 1971.

According to official data, three million people were killed by Pakistani army and their local collaborators during the nine-month-long bloodshed through which Bangladesh was liberated.

At Saturday’s demonstration, protesters were seen carrying placards some of which read – ‘3 million died, not 3 to 5 hundred thousands’; ‘stop yellow journalism’; ‘Al Jazeera, do not manipulate our history’, and ‘stop attempts to save war criminals’.

Munsi said: “If anyone in Germany shows support to the Nazis now, they are sent to jail for 14 years. Such law is now needed in our country too.”

“Fourteen years of imprisonment for anyone who tries to distort our history,” he said.