Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder dismissed as baseless the claims circulating on social media that the Bangladesh delegation was present in the UN General Assembly Hall during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, calling them “propaganda of the fallen forces.”
“Lies are their only recourse now,” he said, emphasising Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s official engagements on Friday morning, ahead of his address at the 80th UNGA.
Azad said the chief adviser had two pre-scheduled programmes that morning.
According to the deputy press secretary, the first was a meeting with officials of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, an international platform comprising former presidents and prime ministers of various countries, held at the hotel at 9am New York time. The second was a meeting with the prime minister of Bhutan, which took place at the UN Headquarters at 10:30am.
“When the Bangladesh delegation, led by the chief adviser, entered the General Assembly Hall after these meetings, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, was delivering his speech,” Azad said, adding that the speeches of the prime ministers of Israel, Pakistan, and China had already concluded well before the Bangladesh delegation entered the Assembly Hall.
Earlier on Friday, dozens of delegates from multiple countries staged a mass walkout at the UN General Assembly Hall during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech. As the Israeli leader spoke, unintelligible shouts echoed around the hall, while applause came from supporters in the gallery.
Iran’s delegation had left their empty chairs surrounded by photos of children that Tehran said were killed during Israel’s war there in June.
