Dhaka: Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif on Thursday said most of the people of Bangladesh believe that the founding anniversary function of the Daily Star was nothing but a ‘projection meeting’.

‘The projection meeting was held with the person who was the key-man behind the 1/11 conspiracy (of 2006),’ he said in an oblique reference to Nobel laureate Md Yunus.

Hanif said this at a press conference emerging from a joint meeting of Awami League at the political office of party president Sheikh Hasina at Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

The Awami League (AL) leader said, ‘The Daily Star celebrated its founding anniversary a few days back spending a few crores of Taka. Nearly 10,000 were the invitees in it. Many persons were brought into Bangladesh inviting them at the function from abroad. Was it merely a founding anniversary celebration?’ ‘An eminent person of the country spoke at the founding anniversary function for nearly two hours. At this, many people of the country believed that it was a projection meeting. The projection meeting was organised with the person who was involved as the key-man in the 1/11 conspiracy (of 2006). So, conscious citizens of the country believe that they (Daily Star) have not been refrained from conspiracy and they have still been involved in conspiracy,’ Hanif added.

‘The false report had published (in the Daily Star) to subtract Sheikh Hasina from politics. She (Sheikh Hasina) had to remain in imprisonment for 11 months following publication of the report (false). Sheikh Hasina had been humiliated to her people and she suffered damages politically then,’ the AL leader said.

The joint meeting of AL was chaired by party presidium member Obaidul Quader and attended, among others, by joint general secretary Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak, organising secretaries Ahmed Hossain, BM Mozammel Haque and AFM Bahauddin Nasim.