Information Minister and Joint General Secretary of Awami League Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "My question is when the BNP is talking about the reform of the state, whether they want to take the country to Ziaur Rahman's martial democracy or not."
He said this in reply to the questions of the journalists after exchanging views with the newly elected committee of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the meeting room of the ministry at the secretariat on Monday afternoon. DRU President Mursalin Nomani and General Secretary Mainul Hasan Sohel raised various demands on behalf of the organization in the meeting.
Dr Hasan said, "Today, the country is moving forward, all the world leaders, starting from the UN Secretary General, the President of the United States, the President of the World Bank, are appreciating it. A few days ago, the vice president of the World Bank said that the way Bangladesh has developed and progressed even in this critical situation and during the corona virus, it is an example for other countries. When those who were born undemocratically talk about reforming the state, people think they want to bring martial democracy again.
At that time, when asked about the recent events of the US ambassador in Dhaka, the Broadcasting Minister said, 'Our relationship with the US is very good. They are our very important development partners and have been instrumental in our progress over the past fifty years. The incident of the US ambassador would not have happened if he had listened to the victims of Ziaur Rahman's assassination in 1977 or at least taken the memo. This would not have been an incident if those who were there in charge of his security, did not rush him into the car but arranged to listen to them two or four times.
In this regard, the Minister of Home Affairs said that there was no security breach, and the Information Minister said, "Some people were standing and trying to attract the attention of the honorable ambassador, calling him Sir, but Sir hastily got into the car." No security incident occurred.
BNP Standing Committee member Dr. In response to Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain's comment that 'people don't want this government', Hashan Mahmud said, 'If he thinks that people don't want this government, then if BNP comes to the polls, then it will be clear who the people want! They have appealed to the people many times, but have not received a response. On the 10th, the government wanted to fall, but they resigned themselves.
Information and Broadcasting Minister said about the comment that the BNP Nayapaltan office suffered a loss of around fifty lakh taka in the police search, "BNP has been exaggerating about the police search in their office since the beginning.
On the first day, the police searched there and found fresh bombs. Offices where fresh bombs are found will be thoroughly searched, it is quite normal. Not only fresh bombs, cash, sticks, 160 sacks of rice, 2.5 lakh bottled water and many other things were found there, which are not normal. The police searched for the sake of searching. The allegations made by BNP are not correct.
Reminiscing the past, Hashan Mahmud said, "When BNP was in power, the police visited our 23 Bangabandhu Avenue office many times, raided, searched and arrested many people from the office. BNP may not remember these. So Dr. I would kindly request Mr. Khandkar Musharraf to look back a little.
Earlier, congratulating the newly elected committee of Dhaka Reporters Unity, the Information Minister said, "I have been, am and will remain with the media." There has been no political division in the DRU in the past 27 years. I hope not in the future. Your programs have always played a role in the welfare of journalists, including during the Corona period.
The Press Institute supports the training organized by DRU and will increase. However, in view of your demand for financial allocation, I inform you that the ministry does not have any such sector. Digital security laws are for everyone and almost all countries around the world have these laws. I will talk to the Home Minister to speed up the process of the Sagar-Rooney murder case.
Other leaders of DRU include Vice President Dipu Sarwar, Joint General Secretary Moinul Ahsan, Finance Secretary Sakhawat Hossain Sumon, Organizational Secretary Saiful Islam, Office Secretary Kawsar Azam, Women Affairs Secretary Maryam Moni Senjuti, Publicity and Publication Secretary Kamal Uddin Sumon, Information Technology and Training Secretary Tofazzal Hossain Rubel, Sports Secretary Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Entertainment Secretary Md. Naimuddin, Welfare Secretary Md. Tanveer Ahmed, Executive Members Monirul Islam Millat, Ismail Hossain Russell, Mohsin Bepari, Mozammel Haque Tuhin, Kiran Sekh, SM Mostafizur. Rahman Sumon and Mo Ibrahim Ali attended the meeting.
13 journalists visiting Bangladesh from 11 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa met Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud on Monday afternoon. During this meeting at the secretariat, Ministry's Additional Secretary Mo Farooq Ahmed, Director General of Public Diplomacy Wing of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taufiq Hasan and others were present. The minister explained to them the overall development of Bangladesh including the media sector and answered various questions.
Journalists from Algeria, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Vietnam on the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited Bangladesh from December 15 to 20 as part of a tour of top sights and clubs.