At a roundtable held on Monday at Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka, prominent citizens warned that conflicting and baseless narratives on social media are fostering division in society. Organized by Citizens Forum Bangladesh (CFB) under the theme “False Narratives, Propaganda and Disunity: Threats to Stability, National Security and Unity,” the event emphasized the need for national unity and moral education to combat misinformation. Participants also called for the establishment of a permanent education commission to ensure a stable education policy.

CFB Chairman and former Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Anwar Ullah Chowdhury said that false narratives cannot be defeated by law alone but through truth-based narratives. He stressed the importance of building a knowledge-based society and educating students in ethics to foster patriotism and social responsibility. Other speakers highlighted the role of misinformation in destabilizing university campuses and urged strategic reforms in education to include national security and defense awareness.

Former police chief Md. Ashraful Huda pointed to intelligence lapses behind the spread of false information, while other participants urged transparency from the government regarding the ongoing energy crisis, which they attributed to global conflicts.