New Delhi, March 29 (IANS): Amid the raging row over foreign nations commenting on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in the excise policy case, it has emerged that a Bangladesh-based journalist, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, posed questions to the US and UN spokespersons, prompting answers on these lines.
Ansarey made a deliberate attempt to elicit anti-India statements by posing questions on Kerjriwal’s arrest and the freezing of Congress' bank accounts.
It has emerged that the Bangladeshi scribe questioned the US State Department’s spokesperson Mathew Millar on March 27 and posed the same question to the spokesperson of the United Nations on March 28.
Notably, Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on alleged money laundering charges in the excise policy case sparked a political slugfest in the country, besides garnering global attention, as a German diplomat and the spokespersons of the US and UN made a mention of it in their speeches while expressing hope for a 'fair trial' in the case.
According to reports, the journalist has had a past of spreading anti-India narratives and also remains an absconder in his own country. Ansarey, in his articles, has often blamed India for the political developments in Bangladesh.
In his Facebook profile, Ansarey describes himself as a journalist from Bangladesh and claims to be working as the Executive Editor at South Asia Perspectives, a monthly opinion-based magazine published from Washington.
He also describes himself as a White House correspondent for a Bangladeshi portal named Just News BD.
He is a regular columnist with the Indian portal ‘The Wire’.
His portal News BD reportedly promotes the Jamaat-e-Islami, a banned outfit in India.