Major Hafiz’s speech after becoming MP spread to claim he spoke as acting president
A video message of Acting President Major (Retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmad was circulated on the social media platform Facebook, claiming that after becoming president, he requested that BNP leaders and activists not behave harshly toward Awami League supporters. However, a fact-check by Dismislab reveals that he had given that message following his victory in the Bhola-3 constituency in the national election last February, to avoid post-election violence.
On August 16, a video was posted from a Facebook page named “Comilla Barura Bangabandhur Shoinik.” Written in the post was, “Breaking News.. The farewell bell has rung, language changed under pressure from India, America, Russia, China.” Written inside the video was, “What he said to Jamaat, Awami League, BNP leaders and activists after becoming president.”
In the 21-second video, Acting President Major (Retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmad is heard saying, “I would request BNP leaders and activists so that they do not behave harshly with any supporter of Awami League or any other party or Jamaat-e-Islami or any other party. May no unjust behavior be committed against anyone. If anyone takes the law into their own hands, they will have to face severe punishment. I will try to uproot all roots of corruption. I will not allow anyone to oppress any human being” (verbatim). Up until the writing of this report, the video has been shared 942 times and viewed more than 133,000 times.
The video was posted with the same claim from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) personal profiles and pages on Facebook. The video was also posted from an Instagram account.
To verify the authenticity, conducting a reverse image search with keyframes of the video led to a video report published on February 13 on Channel i News’s YouTube channel. The headline of the video was, “The message Major (Retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed gave, thanking supporters after winning.” Major Hafiz is heard making the statement, that is being spread now, in the portion from 44 seconds to 1 minute of the 4-minute 47-second video. An exact match with parts of the circulated video is also found in the 2-minute 27-second portion. The same video was also found on Banglavision‘s YouTube channel.
That is to say, although circulated claiming to be after becoming acting president, Major Hafiz gave this message after winning the Bhola-3 constituency in the 13th national election last February with the aim of avoiding post-election violence.
It is to be noted that on July 24, Md. Sahabuddin resigned from the post of president, citing health reasons. According to the provisions of the Constitution, Speaker of the National Parliament Hafiz Uddin Ahmad assumed the duties of Acting President following the acceptance of his resignation letter. A meeting of the National Parliament has been called for August 20 to vote in the next presidential election.
