Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu today said that The Daily Star
Editor Mahfuz Anam’s recent comment reveals that the mass media was
forced to publish lies, and distorted and partial information during the
2007-2008 caretaker government regime.
“After the One-Eleven
change-over, pressure was mounted on the mass media, which came out
through the comment of Mahfuz Anam. It has now been disclosed how the
mass media was forced to publish lies, distorted and partial information
and incidents of character assassination,” he said while addressing a
press briefing at the Secretariat.
Amnesty International did not
issue any statement during that time criticising these abnormal
incidents of repression on the mass media, the minister said as he was
critising
AI report issued on Tuesday.
Inu
said the statements issued by several international organisations
including Amnesty International on Mahfuz Anam are nothing but crocodile
tears.
Terming Amnesty’s report as “one-eyed”, Inu said the organisation had taken position against Bangladesh’s democratic system.
Amnesty report published Tuesday is fragmented, motivated and the real incident was not represented, the minister alleged.
The
minister denied an Amnesty claim that no-one directly involved in
petrol bomb attacks and violence during the anti-government movement by
the BNP was brought to justice.
Total 597 people were caught red
handed while throwing petrol bombs. Among them, 363 were activists of
BNP while 205 of Jamaat—e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra
Shibir.
Inu said like politicians, newspaper editors also have to
keep a minimum ethical standard. It politicians are criticised for their
ethics, newspaper editors can also be criticised for it.
The prime minister’s statement on Mahfuz Anam,
the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, was not an expression of
anger, it was about the undemocratic activities of the military-backed
One-Eleven government, he said.
Referring to defamation and sedition
pleas filed against the Anam, he said the government itself had not
taken any step against the Daily Star editor. It is the aggrieved
citizens who are filing those, he added.
Asked about an alleged
directive to the private business owners on not giving advertisements to
The Daily Star and Bangla daily Prothom Alo, he said that the
government had not issued any such directive. “The government has no
jurisdiction to control advertisement.”
The minister also claimed
today that the mass media is now enjoying highest freedom in the
country’s history. The government has no policy or taken any measures to
control it, he added.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Thursday,
February 25, 2016, says that The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam’s recent
comment reveals that the mass media was forced to publish lies,
distorted and partial information during the 2007-2008 caretaker
government. Photo: TV grab 