US visa restrictions: BNP leaders, pro-Jamaat X account hail Peter Haas; lash out at some media outlets

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami X (formerly Twitter) account have hailed US Ambassador Peter Haas' recent remark of including media under the visa restriction policy.

They also named certain media outlets and journalists, despite the United States saying it will not release the names or numbers of people in Bangladesh subjected to the visa restrictions.

"Visa records are confidential under US law," US Embassy Spokesperson Bryan Schiller had told UNB earlier.

BNP leaders and pro-BNP personalities, including Dr Shakhawat Hossain Sayantha, secretary general of the political think tank G9, and Rumeen Farhana, BNP's international affairs secretary, lashed out at media outlets and journalists who ran reports that have been critical of the party.

In separate videos, circulated on social media and shared by their supporters, both have hailed the US ambassador's recent remark on including media in the visa restrictions and named a number of private television channels that BNP has boycotted.

Dr Sayantha presented a list of journalists — critical of BNP and Jamaat — who he said would be "subjected to the US visa restrictions" while Rumeen echoed a similar view.

Basherkella, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami X (Twitter) account, also tweeted that Haas "is a true friend of Bangladesh."

Though US Ambassador Peter Haas mentioned inclusion of media in the visa restriction policy for Bangladesh, the United States Department of State refrained from mentioning media.

This article has been edited by The Business Standard