The US ban on RAB officials is unacceptable, but the incident will not affect friendly relations between the two countries, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hassan Mahmud.
He was responding to a question from reporters after the chief guest's speech at the unveiling ceremony of the special magazine ‘Maa o Shishu’ published by the Information Department, in the conference room of the department at the Secretariat on Sunday afternoon.
Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Md Maqbool Hossain addressed the function as a special guest under the chairmanship of Chief Information Officer Shahenur Miah.
“We have a very good relationship with the United States. As a development partner, the United States has been supporting our development in many ways. Our security forces and law enforcement agencies have benefited from the technical cooperation between the two countries in combating terrorism and militancy”, the minister said.
“A global network is needed to suppress the global network of terrorists and militants but, the way the US Treasury Department has imposed ban on RAB officials is unwelcome, unfortunate, unacceptable and ineffective”, he added.
“The government has summoned the US ambassador to protest,” Informing this Hassan said, “It is a matter of diplomatic etiquette whether the sudden imposition of such ban without any prior communication is in accordance with diplomatic etiquette. We hope that our friend country, the United States, will be able to understand our country's ‘sentiment’ in this regard.”
When asked if any other country would impose ban on US officials for gross human rights abuses, the minister said, “It's a matter of the future, I don't want to comment. However, we think this incident is an isolated incident. This will have no effect on our relationship with the United States.”
Read more: UN says hunger on the rise in Arab world
The Minister at the time thanked the Department of Information for publishing the ‘Maa o Shishu’ magazine and said that the magazine needs to be published online as well as published.
The minister took part in the Meet the Press programme of the full-length film ‘Chiranjeev Mujib’, based on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s autobiography ‘Oshomap Attojiboni’, at the Bangladesh Film Archive projection hall in Agargaon on Sunday afternoon.
