State Minister for Information Tarana Halim today told parliament that "BNP-Jamaat clique is spreading rumour through 300 Facebook pages from abroad to tarnish the image of the government" ahead of the next general election.

“We know BNP-Jamaat has opened 300 Facebook pages which are being operated from abroad with an aim to spread rumour and provide people with false information to dent the image of the government and assassinate the characters of each minister and MP ahead of the election,” she said at the parliament this evening.

The junior minister came up with the remarks while replying to a supplementary question by Awami League lawmaker Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan.

Under the circumstances, Tarana said the government has set up a “rumour identification and prevention cell” which will be functional by the end of this month.

About the activities of the cell, she said it will remain in operation 24 hours and will continuously monitor different social networking sites to inform media within three hours if any rumour is found.

She alleged that a vested quarter using the logos of different credible and well-circulated online portals and newspapers has been spreading rumours on the social media.

Tarana also said during the students’ recent safe road movement, such rumours were spread using the logo of BBC. “BNP-Jamaat is conducting such false propaganda and circulating false news.”