The reports of certain Indian media over the United States’ State Department’s travel advisory for Bangladesh are misleading, chief adviser’s press wing said.
It said, ‘Certain Indian media outlets are circulating misleading reports regarding the US State Department’s travel advisory for Bangladesh, specifically suggesting that the Chittagong Hill Tracts region has been newly designated as Level 4 — ‘Do Not Travel’ due to communal violence.
‘We wish to make it unequivocally clear that this claim is factually incorrect,’ the press wing said in a statement posted on its verified Facebook page — CA Press Wing Facts— on Sunday.
The US Department of State’s official advisory for Bangladesh was reissued following a routine periodic review, and as stated explicitly in the advisory, only minor edits were made.
There has been no change to the advisory level for the Chittagong Hill Tracts or for any other part of Bangladesh, according to the statement.
The current advisory remains as follows —
The Chittagong Hill Tracts region is designated as Level 4: ‘Do Not Travel’ (a status which has been in place for some time).
The rest of Bangladesh is designated as Level 3: ‘Reconsider Travel.’
The suggestion that the advisory level was newly raised or modified in response to deteriorating security conditions is both inaccurate and misleading, the CA press wing statement said.
‘This misrepresentation of facts reflects a concerning lapse in journalistic standards and raises serious questions about the intent behind such reporting, it said.
‘At a time when responsible and fact-based journalism is more important than ever, we urge all media outlets to refrain from disseminating unverified or distorted information,’ the statement read.
For accurate and official updates on US travel advisories, the Bangladesh interim government encourages the public and media to consult the US State Department’s website directly:
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