Ruling Awami League MP Meher Afroz Chumki today (April 09, 2023) said no one in Bangladesh is now starving. “People of the country do not want panta rice any more, they don’t go door to door and beg,” she said. The MP said this during a discussion on the 50th anniversary of the National Parliament. Chumki said that poverty has disappeared from Bangladesh.  Read More: Poverty forces Thakurgaon day-labourer to put 7-month-old baby girl up for sale  “We don't deny that prices have been going up. People are suffering all over the world. They are spending money after a lot of consideration. But is there any person in Bangladesh without food? We can proudly say that the people of Bangladesh are not going without food. People do not want panta rice any more, today they want good food and clothes.  The country is self-sufficient today,” she said. Saying that Sheikh Hasina is one of the top global leaders in women's empowerment, Chumki added that the prime minister has appeared for question and answer in parliament for bringing accountability. Expressing determination to move forward while facing conspiracy, Chumki said this is not 1975, this is 2023. “Country is on track to become Smart Bangladesh in 2041. No one can get away with conspiracy here. We will move forward.”  “Why do we need to seek votes? Because, after killing Bangabandhu, a generation grew up in Bangladesh with wrong and distorted history. They do not know the history of Bangabandhu, they do not know the history of this country,” she said. Read More: Bangladesh Poverty Watch Report 2022 launched; regular monitoring of progress emphasized She mentioned that some intellectuals have forgotten that on the eve of victory, intellectuals were killed by the Pakistani army and their collaborators so that this country fails to move forward.  The ruling party MP said that with “false information and exploiting a child by paying him just Tk 10, a section of people have mocked the independence of the country.”

The government of Bangladesh has said as a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child it would not tolerate any act of abusing children, noting that Prothom Alo journalist Shamsuzzaman Shams was arrested because of “child abuse and exploitation”. "The government would also not accept any such effort aimed at maligning the Independence Day of the nation," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today (April 01, 2023). The government of Bangladesh is committed to uphold the freedom of expression for all its citizens and the media, the foreign ministry said. Read More: Prothom Alo journalist Shams denied bail, sent to jail However, it said, creating social unrest by undertaking such “fraudulent acts” is contrary to the spirit of honest journalism. The ministry said it has been brought to the notice of the government that some international media and institutions are claiming that a journalist in Bangladesh, named Shamsuzzaman, has been arrested as he wrote about the “cost of living in Bangladesh”. "This information is totally false and fabricated. This journalist was arrested because of ‘child abuse’ and ‘child exploitation," the foreign ministry said. Many media outlets have been continuously reporting on the cost of living in Bangladesh since the beginning of the Ukraine war which has caused inflation around the world. Read More: Prothom Alo journalist Shams taken to court "No one has been arrested due to such reporting. The said journalist was arrested because of child abuse and child exploitation, as he offered ten taka to a 9-year-old boy and then expressed his own views in the name of that child," the ministry said. "That is surely an act of child abuse and exploitation. Secondly, he tried to undermine the independence of Bangladesh on the great Independence Day. These acts are surely tantamount to punishable crimes," the foreign ministry said. Read More: Prothom Alo reporter Shamsuzzaman sued under DSA