Bangladesh’s interim government has appointed US-based journalist-activist Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, a polarising figure known for his alleged anti-India stance and decade-long campaign against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as ambassador to one of its missions abroad. He returned to Bangladesh on September 12 after nearly a decade in exile.
The Bangladesh ministry of public administration issued a notification on Monday confirming the appointment of Ansarey, who raised eyebrows last March when he referred to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest during a press briefing with US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
He has been accorded the status and privileges of a senior secretary with a three-year contract. Amid speculation about which country he might be sent to, sources said the foreign affairs ministry would notify his posting soon.
Ansarey’s appointment coincided with the interim government cancelling the contractual appointments of its ambassadors to the United States, Russia and the UAE. The foreign affairs ministry will announce their replacements soon, officials said.
Some see the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s choice of Ansarey as a reward for his decade-long baiting of the erstwhile Awami League administration led by Sheikh Hasina. He was the assistant press secretary to former prime minister Khaleda Zia from 2001 to 2006.
Ansarey currently serves as executive editor of the Washington-based foreign policy magazine South Asia Perspectives. He is also the editor and White House correspondent for JustNewsBD, covering the UN, the US state department, and the Pentagon.