UNB, Dhaka :
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly denied the authenticity of two documents allegedly leaked from its system and posted online containing sensational revelations about possible deployment of Indian troops in the besieged border district of Satkhira.
A pair of leaked documents – one fax and one email – seemingly containing correspondence between high officials of MOFA based in Dhaka and the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi were submitted anonymously online on Tuesday, and quickly went viral over
social media networks in the next 24 hours. Talking to UNB on Wednesday, Shamim Ahsan, director-general (external publicity) of the ministry poured scorn over the documents, categorically stating they were “photoshopped”.
“In this day and age, almost anything can can be photoshopped to resemble what one wants,” the DG said, when his attention was drawn to handwriting and signatures that appear on the documents.
The leaked 2-page fax, provided it is genuine, is dated November 6, 2013 and addressed to the political counsellor of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. Although his name isn’t mentioned anywhere, Shah Ahmed Shafi currently serves in that post, as he was at the time of correspondence.
Rather ominously, the subject line of the fax reads “Military Aid from India and Deployment at Satkhira”.
The fax was sent by Toufiq Islam Shatil, a senior assistant secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in charge of East Asia and the Pacific.
Copies of the fax were also addressed to Brig. General Noor Md. Noor Islam, defence advisor at the Bangladesh HC in Delhi, and Sujit Ghosh, political and information counsellor at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
