Staff Correspondent:

After a long journey, full of ups and downs and hustle and bustle, the country’s oldest and biggest electronic mass media outlet, Bangladesh Betar, has now reached to an enviable height of success.

The state run Radio,under the ongong amicable environment, has been able to play worthy role in advancing towards a new, fascism-free democratic Bangladesh. However, it has yielded a serious negative impact among those who couldn’t accepet the fallen of Hasina led fascist government on August 5, 2024.

As a result, this evil quarter is spreading misinformation and disinformation through various means, mostly fake and hidden, to tarnish Betar’s hard-earned reputation and success.

Established in 1939,the glorious Bangladesh Betar had, over time, turned into a fascist institution during regime of tyrant Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government. After the fall of fascism, Bangladesh Betar embarked on a new journey led from the front by the current Director General, A S M Zahid.

On August 5th of last year, after the fall of the government, he played an active role in protecting Bangladesh Betar from mob violence. That day, when public outrage erupted, the murals of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Betar’s Dhaka and Khulna stations were damaged and later removed.

He made every effort to beautify those spaces and brought back the lost beauty of Betar campus. Additionally, he has been working tirelessly to restore transparency, accountability, and Betar’s distinct identity by removing irregularities, corruption, and fascist influence from its administration.

As a result, he has continued to modernize Betar’s programming and news by adding timely contents and updating its broadcasting approaches. During the authoritarian and fascist regime of the Awami League, Bangladesh Betar was plagued by widespread irregularities, corruption, and unethical transfer and tender dealings.

Due to the integrity and efficiency of the current Director General, these vested interest groups have started spreading false propaganda against him and his honest and competent staff officer, Md. Mahmudun Nabi. This conspiratorial group is now desperate to oust these officials from their posts by labeling them with fascist affiliations inorder to serve their own interests. They have turned to social media as their weapon, creating fake Facebook accounts to spread fabricated and baseless lies.

This correspondent has come across such a fake account. The few posts made from that account are purely false propaganda and rumors. To gain trust, the dishonest group even posted soa photo of the Honorable Chief Adviser. One post from the account mentioned Bangladesh Betar, which was then copied verbatim by some obscure media outlets.

Investigations reveal that Director General A S M Zahid joined the Press Wing of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia in 2006. He also remained in the Press Wing during the caretaker government of 2007–08.However, due to his anti-fascist stance, the fascist Awami regime removed him from the Press Wing shortly after coming to power.

Meanwhile, Md. Mahmudun Nabi, Deputy Controller of News at the Betar headquarters and the Director General’s staff officer, is a sincere, efficient, and intelligent officer from the 28th BCS batch. He has served with distinction in the news divisions of Barisal, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Chittagong, and the Central News Agency in Dhaka. Previously, he served on deputation as Deputy Director (Administration) at the Bangladesh Cinema and Television Institute (BCTI), where he worked hard to develop the institution’s organogram, budget codes, and more.

While at BCTI, he did not yield to the fascist collaborators like M. Hamid and Gazi Rakayet, which created tensions with them— something well-known among BCTI staff.

Due to his principled and honest nature, he transferred to Betar Chittagong and has served as staff officer of the DG for the last four years with great reputation. Notably, this post has no financial benefits. Both Director General A S M. Zahid and Staff Officer Md. Mahmudun Nabi are widely recognized by Betar’s audience as honest, anti-fascist officials. Several listeners have said that their integrity has made them targets of a fascist group that is envious of their reputation.

According to experienced officials and Betar insiders, after the revolution in August, the competent 13th batch BCS Administration officer Mahbuba Farjana took charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She has been leading the Ministry with great skill and has been playing a crucial role in allowing media freedom by eliminating government propaganda. Despite being marginalized during the fascist regime, she has been making every effort to restore the Ministry’s lost glory. Under her leadership, honest officers like A S M Zahid and Md. Mahmudun Nabi are driving Betar forward into the future.

The current interim government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, is working tirelessly to eliminate corruption and exploitation and restore democracy. The current administration of Bangladesh Betar is playing an active role in supporting this mission. Conscious members of society believe that it is essential to continue such efforts in a major media outlet like Bangladesh Betar.