Letters sent to foreign missions informing facts on BNP's activities: Alam

State Minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam today said the foreign ministry has sent letters to overseas missions here informing diplomats the true facts regarding incidents that took place on December 10th and 7th centering BNP's rally.

"This (sending letter) is nothing new ... as per the diplomatic norms, the foreign ministry always informs the foreign diplomats here regarding major incidents that occur in the country," he told media after attending a roundtable discussion at Jatiya Press Club in the capital this afternoon.

The state minister said the foreign ministry sent letters to the foreign missions in Dhaka instead of arranging any briefing for the foreign diplomats.

He said the foreign ministry wanted to let the foreign diplomats know about the true facts as BNP leaders have been paying visits to different foreign missions here with misinformation after December 10th.

Through the letter, Alam said, the foreign ministry also informed the foreign missions about the background of arresting BNP leaders.

"We wanted to let them (diplomats) know the true fact before anyone asks us regarding the matter," he said, adding that the government always wanted to let BNP hold a peaceful rally in Dhaka as like as the opposition party held rallies in other divisional cities.

Alam said BNP had chosen December 10th for its rally as their lobbyists, being paid millions of US dollars, assured them that Bangladesh would get sanctions by some western countries on December 9th ahead of international human rights day.

The state minister attended the roundtable discussion titled "Importance of Digital Literacy to combat Hate Speech and Misinformation" jointly organized by Women Journalist Network, Bangladesh (WJNB) and Canadian High Commission in Dhaka.

Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Lilly Nicholls joined the discussion as the Special Guest.