Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday said that BNP has attacked the very existence of the state and urged the editors of newspapers to create public opinion against BNP-sponsored terrorism and violence.
He also called upon the editors to take legal action against the BNP culprits responsible for attacking on-duty journalists on October 28.
“BNP has created an unstable situation in the name of movement and an evil effort is being made to create instability and chaos in the country,” he said while exchanging views with the editors of daily newspapers at his office at secretariat in the capital.
Dr Hasan Mahmud, also the Joint General Secretary of Awami League, said BNP-Jamaat activists have attacked the residence of the Chief Justice, judges’ complex and hospital which never happened in the country in the past.
“The attackers are identified and they are leaders and workers of BNP-Jamaat. They cannot avoid the responsibility,” he said.
The minister said that BNP killed a police man brutally and burnt down about 19 vehicles including ambulances at Razarbagh Police Hospital and their brutality has crossed all limits like Israeli forces in Gaza.
BSS adds: The minister said BNP is carrying out mayhem across the country in the name of enforcing blockade. Their terrorist activities are not acceptable in any way, he said.
Hasan Mahmud said journalists, editors and mass media can mould up public opinion. But people of the country are unaware about their brutality even after attack on 30 on-duty journalists. Countrymen don’t know about the severity and cruelty of the attack on newsmen, he added.
He said, “It is the responsibility of media to inform the countrymen about BNP’s mayhem. And it is needed to publish reports how the journalists were attacked.”
“People were not burnt down in the name of politics in the last couple of decades anywhere in the world. Even, BNP’s miscreants abused the journalists in the guise of newsmen wearing level of ‘press’,” he said.
Dr Hasan said public opinions should be created against this and every stakeholder including Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and other journalists unions should raise their voice against the attack.
Hasan Mahmud regretted over the silence of human rights advocates as they showed their complete inertia regarding the attack on journalists.
He assured giving assistance to injured newsmen from the Journalists’ Welfare Trust Fund.
The Daily Observer editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said many journalists were injured on October 28. Even, BNP vandalized transports of mass media, he said.
He said, “We are concerned as they attacked the residence of Chief Justice, at a hospital and killed a cop. We think that attacks on journalists are tantamount to attack on mass media and freedom of expression and thought.”
The daily Amader Natun Somoy emeritus editor Naimul Islam Khan said attack of BNP on media is nothing new. They have the history of storming into Jatiya Press Club (JPC) and attacking journalists when was in power. About 60 journalists were injured in that attack, he recalled, underscoring the necessity of documentation of the attacks. The daily Bhorer Kagoj editor Shyaml Datta, Kaler Kantho editor Shahed Mohammad Ali, the Daily Sun chief editor Enamul Haque Chowdhury, the daily Bhorer Dak editor Belayet Hossain, the daily Kalbela editor Santosh Sharma, the daily Desh Rupantar acting editor Mostafa Mamun, Bangladesh Bulletin acting editor Rafiqul Islam Ratan, the daily Amader Somoy executive editor Mainul Alam, the daily Pratidiner Bangladesh editor Mustafiz Shafi, the daily Ajkaler Khabor Faruque Ahmed Talukder, the daily Sangbad Pratidin acting editor Riman Mahfuz, the daily Protidiner Sangbad acting editor Mahabubur Rahman, the daily Bangladesher Alo editor Mafizur Rahman Khan Babu, the daily Bangladesh Today editor Zobaeyr Alam, the daily Peoples’ Life editor Azizul Islam Bhuiyan, the daily Amader Natun Somoy editor Nasima Khan Manti and the daily Bhorer Akash advisor editor Motahar Hossain, among others, addressed the meeting.