Staff Reporter:
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman said press freedom must be en-sured to safeguard democracy.
“The press freedom must be ensured to defend democracy,” he said in a message issued on the occasion of the Black Day for Newspaper yesterday.
Tarique Rahman said, “June 16, 1975, is a black day in the history of Bangladesh. On this day, the then rulers abolished all parties and established an extremely authoritarian one-party BAKSAL, allowing only 4 newspapers loyal to them to be published, leaving the entire nation gagged”.
“As a result, a huge number of journalists working in various newspapers became unemployed. Their livelihood and the future of their children were subjected to extreme anarchy,” he mentioned.
Tarique Rahman said, “The main spirit of our war of Liberation was to achieve geographical independ-ence of Bangladesh and establish democracy. In traditional democracy, people’s civic freedom is ensured and the main condition of which is freedom of speech, thought and expression.”
“Since there is an opportunity to express dissent in the freedom of the press, the state and society come under accountability and the will of the citizens is reflected in the formation of the country’s govern-ment,” he said.
