Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka blames police detectives for reports on Pak diplomat’s 'terror links'

The High Commission of Pakistan in Dhaka has held the Detective Branch of Police responsible for ‘baseless’ media reports on ‘terror links of a Pakistani diplomat’.

The mission issued a rejoinder on Wednesday after several media in Bangladesh ran reports on Second Secretary (political) Fareena Arshad’s alleged terror links.
 
The rejoinder said, “It has been learnt that the “story” was leaked to the press by the Detective Branch of the police, and a section of the press published the same, without any verification worth the name.”
 
Earlier in January this year, Mazhar Khan, a Pakistani official working in the Dhaka mission, had been expelled after Bangladesh intelligence accused him of funding Islamist radicals and peddling fake currency.
 
Detective Branch officials have recently claimed that some arrested members of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) said in interrogations that they were linked to Arshad.
 
One JMB member, Idris Sheikh, also mentioned this in a judicial statement, they said.
 
The Pakistan High Commission did not respond when bdnews24.com contacted the mission for comments before publishing the report on the matter on Dec 14.
 
They issued the rejoinder two days later.
 
“All diplomatic norms and courtesies have been thrown out to the wind by publishing fabricated details of an imaginary “sinister plot” to destabilise the host country,” it said.
 
“This is the last thing that is expected to happen in a brotherly, Muslim country,” it added.
 
It also said, “Pakistan would like to reiterate the fact that a strong and prosperous Bangladesh can only add to Pakistan’s strength, rather than in any way, diminish it.”
 
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner Muntasirul Islam told bdnews24.com, however, that the part of the rejoinder that blamed DB was ‘baseless’.
 
“Dhaka metropolitan detective police have not provided any information to the media naming any specific country or any diplomat or official stationed in Bangladesh,” he said.