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DHAKA: Journalist observing hunger strike in
front of the Jatiya Press Club to press home their demands for arrest the
killers of all journalists including sagar-Runi and freedom of the press on
Thursday.
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Hunger strike
DHAKA:Leaders of the journalist
community in Bangladesh
Vowing not to go
back home till the killers of Sagar and Runi are brought to the book, they said
that no influential quarter, including the judiciary, would ever be able to
intimidate or control the media.
They declared
this during a six-hou-longr mass hunger strike, observed by journalists, on the
premises of Natonal Press Club,
demanding the arrest of the killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar
and Meherun Runi.
The six-hour-long
hunger strike was also observed throughout the country from 10 am.
The event was
organised by Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of
Journalists (DUJ), Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) and Jatiya Press Club (JPC) on the JPC premises, to realize the demand
for proper investigation into the brutal
murder and exemplary punishment to the
killers. Fredom of press and end to
repression of journalists, among others, were also included in the demnds.
BFUJ president
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury announced that journalist unions and press clubs would
hold rallies from March 2 to March 15,
to press home the demands. If the demands are not met, the journalist
community will hold a grand rally in Dhaka
city on March 18, he said.
BNP standing committee
member MK Anwar expressed solidarity to the demand. Columnist Syed Abul Maksud
also spoke on the occasion.
Leaders of BFUJ, DUJ, Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) and
Jatiya Press Club, including Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, Ruhul Amin Gazi, Abdus
Shahid, Omar Faruk, Kamaluddin Sabuj,
Shakhawat Hossain Badsha, Saban Mahmud,
Syed Abdal Ahmed, MA Aziz , Altaf Mahmud and Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul ,
among others, spoke on the occasion.
Iqbal Sobhan
Chowdhury said that divided unions would be united again to press home the
demand.
“There is none
to resist the spirit of unity,” he asserted.
Referring to the
recent rule of the High Court on the Sagar-Runi killing, he said that since the
journalists have been fighting to ensure independence of the judiciary, the
court should also extended its cooperation to ensure freedom of the press.
Terming the HC
rule ‘undesirable’, he said the journlist community would not go back home till
the killers would be taken to the task.
Ruhul Amin
Gazi said that none, including the judiciar,y could curb the
freedom of the press. If there is any move by any quarter to suppres the voice
of journalists, they would not succeed, he said. Demanding immediate
arrest of the killers of Sagar-Runi, he said there is no scope of staging any
drama regarding the arrest of those
responsible for the killing. If any drama is staged in this incident, the
journalist community will unveil the truth, he said.
Manjurul Ahsan
Bulbul said that entire journalist
community was frustrated over the delay in arresting the killers.
Shakhawat
Hossain Badsha said the journalist community demands arrest of the killers and
their trial.
Kamaluddin Sabuj stressed the need for unity of
journalist community. “We have to remain
on guard, so that those responsible for the killing, are arrested. There is no reason of any conflict between
the judiciary. Any move to choke the press would be foiled,” he said.
Sagar, news
editor at private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Runi, a senior reporter at
another TV channel, ATN Bangla, were killed
on February 11 at their rented apartment in the city’s West
Rajabazar .
On February 27,
the newsmen across the country abstained from work for one hour demanding the
arrest of the killers, fair investigation into the killings of all of their
fellows and exemplary punishment to the killers, stopping repression on media
persons and freedom of the press.
The newsmen had
announced the protest programme from a rally on February 22.
Source: The Independent, Bangladesh
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