Washington-based ex Khaleda Zia aide under spotlight for his queries on Kejriwal

Washington based Bangladeshi origin journalist Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey is under spotlight for his repeated queries to the State Department and the UN on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and Congress’s frozen funds.

The war of words between India and USA this week over Kejriwal was a result of Ansarey’s query during the State Department press meet on Kejriwal and Indian elections.

He questioned the US State Department’s spokesperson Mathew Millar on March 27 and posed the same question to the spokesperson of the United Nations on March 28. India reacted sharply and in a strongly worded statement described US comments as unwarranted and akin to interference in internal matters.


It is not a very well known fact that Ansarey was the assistant press secretary to BNP leader Khaleda Zia when she was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh between 2001-06. Ansarey, an erstwhile member of BNP’s student wing, is currently on a self-exile in the USA and late last year came under scanner for his constant queries to the State Department on “lack” of ‘free and fair’ elections in Bangladesh. The USA had questioned Bangladesh's election process in the runup to the polls.

Ansarey, in his articles, has often blamed India for backing Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh. He describes himself as a White House correspondent for a Bangladeshi portal named Just News BD. Bangladesh-based sources alleged that Ansarey’s stay in Washington is being sponsored by BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami, currently outlawed.

In 2022 Ansarey was booked by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), and he was marked as ‘absconding’ in the matter.

India’s ties with Bangladesh were under strain when Zia was the Prime Minister as her regime sheltered Northeastern insurgents and terrorists who had links with Pakistan’s ISI. Outlawed terror groups were often sheltered by Zia’s regime much to India’s discomfort and several terror attacks in India between 2001-06 can be traced back to Bangladesh-based elements