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Published : 04 Jun 2025, 09:34 PM
From now on, the government will take “necessary legal action” if false or misleading news is published, Chief Advisor's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder has warned.
Citing recent instances of fabricated reporting, he said the interim government remains committed to delivering factual information and welcomes constructive media criticism.
“But that doesn’t mean anyone can publish false or baseless news at will,” he said on Wednesday.
“If anyone deliberately spreads such misinformation and misleads the public, the government will be compelled to take legal action.”
His remarks came in response to media reports concerning an ordinance amending the National Freedom Fighters Council Act.
Azad Majumder dismissed as “false, baseless, and politically motivated” media reports claiming that the freedom fighter status of over 100 key figures, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and leaders of the Mujibnagar government, has been revoked.
“A report has been circulated in several newspapers and online platforms alleging that the government has stripped the Mujibnagar government's [former] president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, and two ministers Captain M Mansur Ali and HM Qamaruzzaman of freedom fighter recognition,” Azad said at an event at the Foreign Service Academy.
“The government makes it clear that this claim is entirely untrue, baseless, and motivated,” he added.
The controversy follows an ordinance promulgated on Tuesday that amended the National Freedom Fighters’ Council Act, originally enacted three years ago.
The amendment includes a revised definition of "freedom fighter" and introduces a new classification of individuals designated as “collaborators of the Liberation War".
Some media outlets reported that the interim government had removed official recognition from prominent members of the Mujibnagar government—the wartime administration that led Bangladesh’s struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Liberation War Affairs Advisor Faruk E Azam addressed the issue earlier on Wednesday, saying the reports were inaccurate.
Speaking at the Secretariat, he clarified: “It [the ordinance] explicitly states the Provisional Government of Bangladesh (Mujibnagar government). It mentions the Mujibnagar government -- Tajuddin Ahmad, Mansur Ali, AHM Qamaruzzaman, and Khandaker Mushtaq Ahmed were part of it and all of them were freedom fighters.”
Azad also noted that the term “associates” in the ordinance is not intended to be derogatory.
He stressed that freedom fighters continue to be honoured under definitions set in 1972, with later updates in 2018 and 2022.
“The advisor has assured us that despite definitional changes, the status, respect, and entitlements of both freedom fighters and co-freedom fighters remain equal,” he said.
