Maj Gen Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy, GOC of Savar Cantonment, speaks at a press briefing at the information ministry Wednesday afternoon.
The Bangladesh Army has urged all quarters, both local and international, not to play foul with the force, cautioning them that they would get hurt by doing so.
The call came following news reports that termed hoax the miraculous rescue of garment worker Reshma Begum from the rubble of Rana Plaza 17 days into the collapse.
In an article published in tabloid newspaper Sunday Mirror on June 30 that drew wide attention both in Bangladesh and elsewhere, Simon Wright wrote that a fellow worker of the sewing machinist claimed she had escaped with him on the day of the disaster and took treatment at a hospital together.
The report said Sunday Mirror journalist “travelled to Bangladesh to meet anti-government campaigners who insist the rescue was staged by the authorities to combat the wave of bad publicity that engulfed the country’s £1billion-a-year garment industry after the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Dhaka”.
While insisting on the dramatic hoax claims, it referred to investigation “by journalists from Dhaka’s pro-opposition daily, Amar Desh“.
Many in Bangladesh were doubtful about the content as the story was based on the claim of a lone colleague of Reshma, whose details were not mentioned in the article and very few local newspapers picked up the story in an unlikely precedence.
Terming the media reports “false, ill motivated and a pre-planned conspiracy”, Maj Gen Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy, general officer commanding of Savar Cantonment, said Wednesday that a certain quarter conspired to remove the army from the rescue operations at Rana Plaza.
Demanding investigation into the matter to find out the people responsible behind the conspiracy, the GOC said: “Don’t play foul with Bangladesh Army.”
He also demanded compensation from the local and international media which tarnished its image by reporting Reshma rescue as “a hoax”.
Source: The Daily Star
