BNP demands judicial probe

FE Team | Published: September 22, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

BNP on Monday demanded a judicial probe into Friday's police firing on Kalihati demonstration in Tangail that left four people killed, reports UNB.
"Police have not been appointed to kill people. We don't want to see people killed by police," said BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.
Speaking at a press briefing Ripon demanded proper compensation for the victims of the incident.
On Friday, police fired on local people as they were demonstrating against the alleged rape of a woman in front of her son, killing four people and injuring many others.
The BNP spokesman came down hard on Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman for his directive to police to open fire to contain troublemakers, saying his remark is not lawful.
"Police must maintain the law and order in accordance with the rules and regulation of the force. It's illegal if police members open fire violating the rules," he observed.
Meanwhile, BNP on Monday alleged the government is controlling the media through a 'covert media policy'.
"The government is trying to establish its authoritarian rule in the country. They're putting direct and indirect pressure on the mass media. Even social media has been nakedly regulated by the ICT Act," said BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.
Ripon said the government now determines who will be the guests at TV talk shows, as it restricts appearances by people who speak out on its misdeeds and misrule. "Persons like New Age editor Nurul Kabir are now not invited to TV talk shows. Nurul Kabir himself said in public that he was not invited to talk shows any more."
He further said, "Under the cover of democracy, this government's control over the media has been manifested in its attitude towards publishing advertisements, defamation cases against editors, and regulating talk shows. In fact, there is no press freedom in the country."
In the same vein, he alleged newspapers that publish reports on the government's misdeeds and illegal activities of the ruling party men are being subjected to government hostility.
"As newspaper readers, we are observing that the advertisements from multinational companies have not been published in the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star for a number of days. Government advertisements are also not being published in these two major dailies," he said.
Ripon went on to observe that the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star are not getting advertisements from many institutions as they did in the past based on their huge circulation and popularity.
"We think the government is trying to regulate the media by controlling the flow of advertisements," he asserted.
The BNP leader alleged important news relating to public interest cannot be published in the media due to the government's covert mass media policy. "We call upon the government not to behave like a dictator."