DHAKA, Jan 28, 2024 (BSS) - Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said the inaccurate statement made by the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Bangladesh showed inconsistency with the UN Secretary General's greetings to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"The UNHR reports, made by bias and wrong sources, are being inconsistent with how the UN Secretary General greeted our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (on her reelection) and has been praising her dynamic leadership," he told reporters.

The foreign minister said he raised the point during his today's meeting with the UN resident coordinator in Dhaka Gwyn Lewis at the foreign ministry here.

"They (OHCHR) get information from the biased and wrong sources. We discussed the issue so that it does not happen (in future)," he said.

The foreign minister said the events that unfolded since October 28 and BNP's arson attacks and killing of people did not feature in the reports made by OHCHR.
Hasan Mahmud said the UN resident coordinator informed him that she is looking into the matter so that the UN body would collect information from the verified source.

The foreign minister referred to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's letter of congratulations to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his meeting with the UN chief in Uganda recently.

After issuing the statement, in a reaction, the Bangladesh foreign ministry termed it unfortunate and said the OHCHR may have fallen for BNP's misinformation campaign.

It said, if the OHCHR's statements are not highly objective, the Office will lose people's support, acceptability and credibility.

When a reporter drew his attention to BNP's remarks that the new government has been installed by India, China and Russia, Hasan Mahmud said the current government is the people's government elected by their votes.

"This is a people's government. It is a government elected by the people of Bangladesh," he said.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh's foreign policy is - friendship to all, malice towards none - and the government maintains an excellent relationship with all the countries in the world except Israel.

"We have excellent relations with India, China and Russia. We also have excellent relations with the US, the UK and the European Union. We have a very good relationship with all the countries," he said.