For the last few years, a band of criminals, convicted fugitives, terror-funders and Interpol wanted culprits based in the United States, Britain, Sweden, France, Saudi Arabia, Canada and few other countries have been running vile propaganda against Bangladesh. Most surprisingly, some of these evil propagandists with affiliations with radical Islamic and jihadist groups are receiving funding from the United States Congress.
According to media reports, Shahid Uddin Khan, Kanak Sarwar, Tasneem Khalil, Taj Hashmi, Zulkarnain Saer Khan, Capt (Rtd) Shahidul Islam, Farah Mina, Mahmudur Rahman, Rita Rahman, Nazmus Sakib, Abdur Rob Bhuttow, Pinaki Bhattacharya, Ilias Hossain and few more individuals are engaged in spreading lies, rumors and false propaganda against Bangladesh, ruling Awami League, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and few other esteemed individuals with the notorious agenda of creating anarchy. Amongst these individuals, Shahid Uddin Khan, a sacked military officer and Islamic State funder; Kanak Sarwar, a paid propagandist of Pakistani ISI and pro-jihadist Bangladesh Nationalist Party; Ilias Hossain, an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami, defender of war criminals and opponent of Bangladesh-US and Bangladesh-India friendly relations; Mahmudur Rahman, so-called journalist and editor of Jamaat-e-Islami funded vernacular newspaper and a diehard supporter of Pakistan, Al Qaeda, and Iran’s notorious IRGC Quds Force; Mina Farabi, a paid agent and propagandist of Jamaat-e-Islami and “contact” of Pakistani spy agency ISI; Pinaki Bhattacharya, a long-time agent of Pakistani ISI are using social media and video-sharing platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in baseless rumors and propaganda with the nefarious agenda of illegally unseating the democratically elected government in Bangladesh.
Notorious Pinaki Bhattacharya
Pinaki Bhattacharya is one of those culprits who has been running vile propaganda against Bangladesh through video-staring site YouTube and social media platforms. Several years ago, Pinaki fled Bangladesh and landed in France where he sought political asylum.
Recently investigative journalists of BLiTZ have detected a sponsored post on Facebook by an online bookstore named ‘Booksale’, where this company has termed Pinaki Bhattacharya as “superhero of truth”, and has been openly selling his books. Mobile phone number of ‘Booksale’ is 01944-034780. It is a matter of great surprise as to how this local online bookstore is openly selling books of a fugitive Pinaki Bhattacharya, despite the fact that this man has been engaged in spreading lies and disinformation against Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to credible sources, years ago, Pinaki, a diehard anti-India individual was hired by Pakistani spy agency Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) for running propaganda against India and inciting anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh. He has been categorically active in running propaganda offensives against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Other targets of Pinaki Bhattacharya are the United States, Israel, Britain, European Union and secularist forces. Pinaki has also been supportive to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as well as other parts of India. He has been one of the defenders of the Afghan Taliban.
It is also learnt that Pinaki Bhattacharya maintains deeper connections with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami.
In December last year, all European Awami League leaders filed a number of allegations with French police against Paris-based Bangladeshi blogger and activist Pinaki Bhattacharya.
All European AL president M Nazrul Islam, general secretary Mujibur Rahman, France AL president MA Kashem, general secretary Dilwar Hossain and vice-president Manjurul Hasan Selim lodged the complaints with the French police in Paris.
“Pinaki Bhattacharya is involved in anti-Bangladesh activities. This so-called writer is sitting in France trying to confuse people with misleading and false information about Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh, founding president of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangabandhu family”, Nazrul Islam told the media.
He said that Pinaki Bhattacharya kept spreading propaganda using online portals, Facebook, YouTube channel and other social media platforms.
Nazrul alleged that a vicious circle was trying to create chaos in non-communal Bangladesh and Pinaki Bhattacharya was one of the members of this circle led by convicted BNP leader Tarique Rahman.
“Behind them are the defeated forces of 1971 and their allies. They’re pouring huge amounts of money for this propaganda. We’ve filed a complaint because such propaganda cannot be allowed to continue. Legally it needs to stop. Propaganda against Bangladesh is being carried out on French soil, which we have brought to the notice of the law of this country”, he said.
According to an Indian website, a self-proclaimed activist Pinaki Bhattacharya is anti-Hindu and anti-India extremist. He has been regularly publishing contents defaming Hindu religion.
It said, Pinaki became popular amongst radical Muslims and anti-India and anti-Hindu bloc in Bangladesh for his jihadist and anti-India publications. He persuaded Bangladeshi Muslims to wage jihad against the Hindus and join jihadist forces in Jammu and Kashmir in India.
In Bangladesh, Pinaki was accused of selling counterfeit medicines and sexual drugs. Under the garb of a pharmaceutical company, Pinaki Bhattacharya was also involved in producing Yaba, which is a combination of methamphetamine (a powerful and addictive stimulant) and caffeine. According to information, Pinaki has been selling Yaba to Lebanese Hezbollah as well as other terrorist groups in the Middle East through infamous Dawood Ibrahim’s D Company.
Who is Zulkarnain Saer Khan?
According to Bangladesh Army, Zulkarnain Saer Khan (featured as Sami in the bogus report of terror-broadcast network Al Jazeera), is an ex-cadet expelled from Bangladesh Military Academy on charges of drug addiction.
But according to our sources, Zulkarnain is also the owner of an Indian restaurant named ‘Curry House’ located at District, VIII., 1. Horánszky Street – Budapest, Hungary. The manager cum kitchen’s chief of this restaurant is an Indian national named Kumar Deepak Negi. Other members of the team are: Saurabh Mathur (Head bartender – Indian national), and Shyam Shrestha (Chief chef – Nepalese national). This restaurant was opened on October 6, 2013.
A team of investigative journalists from BLiTZ found Saer Khan’s Curry House being a regular meeting place of the members of mega-terror outfit Hamas and Hezbollah as well as sleeper cell members of Islamic State in Hungary.
On September 24, 2016, an explosion ripped through the center of Budapest and seriously injured two policemen. The blast occurred a week before the country went to the polls to vote in the controversial migrant quota referendum. The social media chatter immediately connected the bombing with the referendum, while counterterrorism experts saw hands of radical Islamic terrorist groups behind this explosion. But no one knew – this terrorist attack plot was finalized by some Muslim terrorists weeks back at the Curry House – a restaurant owned by Zulkarnain Saer Khan.
It is claimed by one of Khan’s Hungarian friends, this Bangladeshi born businessman has been running transnational money laundering activities under the garb of restaurant business, while he also is actively involved in supplying escort girls mostly to tourists from Asian countries.
With the huge flow of cash, mostly generated from his illegal businesses, Saer Khan has opened a second restaurant in Hungary in 2017. He has also opened at least five more restaurants in several countries. It is learned from credible sources that since 2018, a significant portion of Saer Khan’s businesses are owned by mega-terror outfit Hamas, through Palestinians in Hungary. Khan also has business relations with D-Company, a transnational crime gang operated under the leadership of notorious terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.
Following imposing sanctions of Russian oligarchs, a source told BLiTZ that Zulkarnain Saer Khan has at least 17 million dollars invested by a sanctioned Russian oligarch in his businesses in Hungary.
Capt (Rtd) Shahidul Islam
Sitting in Toronto in Canada, a man named Shahidul Islam, with morale decay has joined the nexus of cyber criminals with the nefarious agenda of misleading people with a series of lies and imaginary stories. Although for the past several years, a gang of culprits comprising sacked military officer Shahid Uddin Khan, scandalous journalist Dr. Kanak Sarwar, Tasneem Khalil and Mahmudur Rahman as well as few other individuals have been running outrageous propaganda against Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and members of her family; in the recent months a new character named Shahidul Islam, who claims to be a former military officer has joined the nexus with the dangerous agenda of destabilizing Bangladesh and unseating the democratically elected government.
Investigative reporters of BLiTZ have already found series of serious allegations against Shahidul Islam. According to information, Shahidul was sacked from Bangladesh Army on a number of allegations including financial fraud, cheating various individuals as well as his connections in terror finance and supplying weapons to terrorist and separatist groups, including United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Few years ago, Shahidul Islam fled Bangladesh as he was under investigation for his involvement in terror finance and illegal arms dealings.
According to a credible source, Shahidul Islam was sacked from Bangladesh Army and was subsequently tried for misappropriation of fund, corruption and sexual allegations. Later he managed to flee Bangladesh with the help of a pro-Jamaat immigration attorney and obtained asylum in Canada.
A Toronto-based journalist told BLiTZ that, Shahidul Islam is an alcoholic and womanizer, who is found drunk during most part of the day. He also is seen with young girls, mostly African, Sri Lankan and Uzbek. The journalist further said, in 2019, Shahidul Islam was accused of getting a Sri Lankan girl named Prisha pregnant with the false promise of marrying. As the matter became public, Shahidul Islam found himself in trouble and he was facing pressure as the girl was still minor. Under Canadian law, having physical relations with a minor girl is illegal and punishable by law. Later, he was rescued from the complication by a former leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Meanwhile, Shahidul Islam was approached by BNP leader Tarique Rahman’s man Towhidul Islam alias Ashiq Islam with the offer of joining the propaganda cell of the party in exchange for monthly payment. Being allured by the prospect of making extra cash, Shahidul Islam agreed to join BNP’s propaganda cell against the payment of US$ 500 for each of his appearances. At this stage, he was told that the party can increase the amount to US$ 1,000 per episode, if he can gather sensitive information from his contacts in Dhaka. A greedy Shahidul Islam instantly accepted the offer and started working on making concocted stories on various issues and claimed those to be “sensational leaks”. Although Tarique Rahman was told by his advisers and cohorts that Shahidul Islam was telling them unsubstantiated stories filled with lies, a screwed Tarique said “just use him. Don’t judge too much. He is an elderly person and people will believe his false stories as genuine”. Accordingly, Shahidul Islam started appearing on Dr. Kanak Sarwar’s YouTube channels with series of lies and concocted stories.
Although Shahidul Islam claims to be “Author, columnist, poet, novelist, editor & analyst”, there is no availability of any article written by him in any of the Bangladeshi or foreign newspapers. He also claims to have worked with Weekly Holiday, a Bangladeshi newspaper and The Daily Star, although there is no such prove of his affiliation with either of the publications.
Commenting of Shahidul Islam and other BNP-Jamaat cyber propagandists, experts said, government could initiate measures in taking legal actions against these propagandists especially because their agenda is destabilizing a democratic nation, which is illegal under laws of countries such as Britain, Sweden, the US and Canada.
Tasneem Khalil
For the past several years, a dubious organization named Netra News, proclaims itself as “an independent, non-partisan and non-profit platform of reportage, analysis and debate on Bangladeshi politics, society and culture” has been serving the purpose of the propaganda machine of Islamist forces in Bangladesh through its own website, although, according to alexa.com statistics, it has a very low readership.
Netra News is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). According to a credible source in the US Capitol, although every year NED is paying US$ 0.7 million to Netra News for “promoting democracy”, this dubious website of crooks has been vigorously publishing baseless stories clearly with vendetta against Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other esteemed members of the government and civil-military bureaucrats.
Although on the website of NED it clearly claims to be “steadfastly bipartisan” and to be operating “with a high degree of transparency and accountability”, the unfortunate fact is, this organization is providing thousands of dollars every month to Netra News, which is run by dubious individuals such as Tasneem Khalil, David Bergman and others.
About nature of NED, this organization says on its website:
“From its beginning, NED has remained steadfastly bipartisan. Created jointly by Republicans and Democrats, NED is governed by a board balanced between both parties and enjoys Congressional support across the political spectrum. NED operates with a high degree of transparency and accountability reflecting our founders’ belief that democracy promotion overseas should be conducted openly.
“The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 2,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries.
“Since its founding in 1983, the Endowment has remained on the leading edge of democratic struggles everywhere, while evolving into a multifaceted institution that is a hub of activity, resources and intellectual exchange for activists, practitioners and scholars of democracy the world over”.
The only agenda of Netra News is to create atmosphere for getting Islamist forces such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) into power. It has also been making continuous attempts to defame the image of secularist Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It may be mentioned here that, while Jamaat-e-Islami is known for its policy of promoting radical Islam and jihad, Bangladesh Nationalist Party upholds policies of promoting anti-Hindu, anti-India, and pro-militancy sentiment. This party considers Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah as its “key ally” while it had also played exposed role behind emergence of Islamist militancy group Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh, which had later emerged as the regional franchise of Islamic State (ISIS). Bangladesh Nationalist Party has also patronized Harkatul Jihad (HuJi) and pro-Caliphate Hefazat-e-Islam, a massive platform of madrassa students and teachers.
Shahid Uddin Khan
Shahid Uddin Khan, a convicted terror-funder, money-launderer, tax evader and proven criminal is under investigation by Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center (IFCACC), United Kingdom’s National Investigation Agency and Indian intelligence agencies for his direct connections with notorious terror don Dawood Ibrahim and for his involvement in terror-finance, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
According to information, following publication of a number of reports in BLiTZ and British newspaper the Politicalite, IFCACC is supposed to begin an investigation into the case of Shahid Uddin Khan and members of his family. Meanwhile, a number of leading newspapers in Britain also are currently running investigation into the case of Shahid Uddin Khan. Talking to this correspondent, a senior reporter with UK’s popular daily said, they already have gathered substantial information on Khan and would publish series of investigative reports on this matter. The reporter further said, authorities concerned in Britain are also being contacted by the newspaper for update on the matter of extraditing Shahid Uddin Khan.
Back in 2019, prestigious British newspaper The Sunday Times published an investigative report on illegal activities of Shahid Uddin Khan.
Influential Indian newspaper The Organiser, an official mouthpiece of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) political ally of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also exposed illegal activities of this convicted fugitive.
Shahid Uddin Khan (Army No: BA002428, Course: 8-BMA, Commission Date: 10-06-1983) and his wife and daughters entered Britain with millions of dirty cash. In 2009, Shahid Uddin Khan invested millions of pounds in the United Kingdom in exchange of obtaining immigrant status under Visa Tier 1, vide VAF No. 511702. The family had laundered an unknown amount of money and brought that into the United Kingdom via United Arab Emirates and few more countries, while Shahid Uddin Khan had invested over 18 million pounds for buying citizenship under Britain’s scandalous ‘Golden Visa’ scheme.
According to Indian news agency IANS, intelligence agencies in that country currently were probing a deep-rooted nexus involving underworld mafia don and notorious terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and a London-based fugitive sacked officer of Bangladesh Army named Md. Shahid Uddin Khan.
The news agency claimed that Indian intelligence agencies suspect that Md. Shahid Uddin Khan, who is involved in gun running, trafficking in narcotics and money laundering has links with Dawood Ibrahim’s underworld activities operating from India’s northeastern borders.
IANS news agency said, Shahid Uddin Khan migrated to London in 2009 under mysterious circumstances along with his wife Farjana Anjum and daughters named Shehtaz Munasi Khan, Parisa Pinaz Khan and Zumana Fiza Khan. Members of this family are having business operations in Dubai as well as in Britain. As per the latest dossier on the Dawood Ibrahim gang, the D company is involved in smuggling counterfeit Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and contraband narcotics. The illegal activities are being operated from Nepal and Bangladesh.
Convicted fugitive Islamic State funder, notorious fraud, forger and criminal Md. Shahid Uddin Khan and his prime cohort M. Sajjad Hossain are using electronic mail in circulating nefarious propaganda material against the Bangladesh government. According to information, Shahid is using [email protected], while his prime cohort and husband of his mistress Sajjad is using [email protected] email accounts in sending various types of propaganda materials to their Bangladesh contacts and counterparts. This notorious nexus of criminals is doing this with the ulterior agenda of giving instigation to various civil-military officers (both serving and retired) as well as some of the members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat e Islami (JeI), Hizbut Tahrir and Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB). Shahid and Sajjad reportedly also are giving instigations of ousting the democratically-elected government in Bangladesh by staging a coup.
For years, while my newspaper BLiTZ has been exposing notorious activities of these anti-Bangladesh culprits, I also have been writing in a large number of foreign newspapers against these dangerous individuals. Recently, terror-funder Shahid Uddin Khan succeeded in filing a false case under Digital Security Act against me. On April 6, 2022, I had to appear before Dhaka’s Cyber Tribunal and seek anticipatory bail. The tribunal has fixed August 17 for hearing of the charge-sheet.
Plaintiff of this false case, a cousin of Shahid Uddin Khan posted a video of controversial Islamist orator Mizanur Rahman Azhari during March 2021 Bangladesh visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for waging jihad against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and confront Modi’s Bangladesh visit. Subsequently this report was published in BLiTZ with specific evidence of serious crime committed by Shahid Uddin Khan’s cousin. But unfortunately, the tribunal not only accepted the case against me, but the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charge-sheet despite the fact that this woman confessed in writing to committing this serious crime.
This report shall appear in our next print edition.
