The following is a Media Watch listing of recent attacks against the Bangladeshi press: 1. On the first day of the new millenium, two Bangladeshi journalists received death threats. On 1 January 2000, a number of individuals from the ruling party student wing rushed to the offices of the “Banglabazar Patrika” daily in the capital […]
The following is a Media Watch listing of recent attacks against the Bangladeshi press:
1. On the first day of the new millenium, two Bangladeshi journalists received death threats. On 1 January 2000, a number of individuals from the ruling party student wing rushed to the offices of the “Banglabazar Patrika” daily in the capital city of Dhaka. They were searching for the daily’s Dhaka University correspondent, Anwar Hossain, and threatened to kill him when they saw him coming out of the office. The group was led by Sazzad Hossain, president of the Chattra League (student wing of the ruling Awami league), Dhaka University branch. Anwar Hossain was accused of having published a news item which damaged Sazzad Hossain’s image. A news item previously published in “Banglabazar Patrika” mentioned that a rival group had assaulted Sazzad Hossain.
On the same day, the same group of individuals attacked Anwar-al-din, staff reporter for the “Ittefaq” daily, on the Dhaka university campus and threatened to kill him. The reporter was accused on similar grounds.
2. On 4 January, the “Azadi” daily, the oldest vernacular daily of the port city Chittagong, was the target of a bomb attack at 7:30 p.m. (local time). Eyewitnesses said that two attackers first hurled a bomb in the direction of the window of the first floor news room, but the bomb blast was obstructed by the window. They then hurled another bomb at the newspaper’s managing editorâs car, damaging the vehicle. The attackers ran away without any interference. The police arrived at the scene after about an hour.
3. On 5 January, two journalists were assaulted by the student wing of the opposition party in Munshiganj, a district town adjacent to Dhaka. The local Chattra Dal (student wing of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP) leader attacked Zakir Hossain Sumon -Srinagar, a correspondent for the “Ajker Kagoj” daily. He was accused of publishing a news item against the student group. When Sumon was attacked, a senior journalist, Shafi uddin Ahmed, tried to rescue him and he was also attacked by the student group. Both journalists received treatment at the local hospital. Shafi uddin Ahmed is an award winning journalist and former president of the Bangladesh Journalists Association, the biggest organisation of rural journalists in the country.
