Adviser Asif Nazrul vents anger at Prothom Alo, Daily Star

Law Adviser Asif Nazrul on Thursday expressed anger at Prothom Alo and Daily Star for partially harbouring an anti-BNP stance.

Speaking at a programme at the CIRDAP auditorium, the adviser referred to an apparently hypocritical report published on Daily Star's front page almost 13-14 years ago, at the onset of Awami League regime.

In the article, a lecturer of Dhaka University's law faculty made abusive remarks against then opposition chief and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Almost in every article, including the one lambasting Khaleda, The Daily Star mentioned the lecturer as a professor, even though he was a lecturer at the time.

Asif Nazrul, himself a faculty member at DU law faculty, said he has proof that the anti-Khaleda teacher was a lecturer and not a professor.

At one point, the University Teachers' Association decided to evict the controversial teacher from campus, but Daily Star did not publish this news, in an apparent show of hypocrisy, Asif Nazrul alleged.

"I am sorry to say, but the teacher was so insane that a couple of years ago he committed suicide," Asif Nazrul claimed.

He raised similar accusations of hypocrisy against Prothom Alo, a close ally of The Daily Star. Asif Nazrul admitted that he himself writes for Prothom Alo, but claimed the national daily would lose its credibility among the people if it continues an apparent double-standard policy.

Prothom Alo mentions late popular public health activst Zafrullah Chowdhury as pro-BNP, but does not mention Anisuzzaman and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal as pro-Awami League intellectuals, Asif Nazrul alleged.