On Sunday night (July 6, 2025), Dr. Tasnim Zara, Senior Joint Member Secretary of the National Citizen Party (NCP), took to Facebook to address a malicious campaign targeting her dignity. Two prominent newspapers, Kaler Kantho and Daily Ittefaq, published photo cards implying that she was photographed in public wearing “half pant” attire.

Dr. Zara alleges that the images were manipulated, likely through artificial intelligence, to provoke controversy and shame, with no mention by the outlets that the photos were fake.

In her statement, Dr. Zara outlined the motives behind this smear campaign: “These two media outlets served the Awami League regime. Now, they are returning to the only tactics they know—authoritarian playbooks of defamation and distortion. When truth is not on their side, they invent scandals. When they cannot challenge a woman’s work, they attack her body.”

She accused the newspapers, which she claims long functioned as extensions of the Awami League’s propaganda machinery, of continuing their role under the guise of press freedom. “They are not exposing power; they are shielding it, even in its defeat,” she stated.

Dr. Zara highlighted the insidious nature of the tactic, noting that it relies on implication rather than facts. “The headline doesn’t say ‘real photo,’ but it doesn’t say ‘fake’ either. The ambiguity is the weapon,” she explained. She further pointed out that the campaign banks on misogyny, exploiting the belief that a woman’s credibility can be undermined through her appearance, and leverages cultural policing in a conservative society to spark judgment.

“I will not carry the burden of a lie manufactured by cowards,” Dr. Zara declared. “I will not retreat because someone fed an image into a machine and decided to sell it as truth. And I will not allow the narrative to be hijacked, not when there is so much real work to do for the people of this country.”

She urged the public to recognize the remnants of a fascist regime attempting to destroy dignity through digital forgery and to remember the newspapers that amplified it without integrity. “This is not about me. It is about the politics we want to leave behind and the kind of politics we must now build,” she emphasized.

Dr. Zara concluded with a resolute commitment to truth: “They had to invent a lie to try and stop me. I will continue speaking the truth. And I know that the truth will outlive them.”