Govt out to restore media black law to hide misrule
Friday, 4 July 2014
BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Miah Friday alleged that the government is trying to restore a controversial provision of the press law in a bid to hide its corruption and misrule.
Addressing a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club, he said the government is now conspiring to bring back a scrapped provision of the Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act 1973 so that people cannot read news about the ruling party men’s graft like depositing money in Swiss Bank and their other plundering.
Jatiya Manobadhikar Parishad organised the discussion protesting what it said fresh ill-move of the government to gag the newspapers, according to a news agency.
“The lone motive (behind it) is to control the country’s newspapers and mass media as done during Baksal in the mid-70s so that people cannot have access to information about any incident (of corruption and misrules),” Rafiqul said.
In 1991, then President Justice Shahabuddin Ahmad scrapped the provision of district magistrate’s authority to cancel the declaration of any newspaper following a strong demand by journalists.
Rafiqul Islam said, “It’ll be a severe blow to the country’s newspaper and electronic media, if the provision of the printing law is reinstated. The newspapers will lose freedom.”