THREATS TO PRESS FREEDOM IN BANGLADESH INDIA AND SRI LANKA

THREATS TO PRESS FREEDOM IN BANGLADESH INDIA AND SRI LANKA

As World Press Freedom Day approaches (May 3) there is enough evidence from around the sub-continent that the profession is under threat in practicing free and fair journalism. Recent incidents in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka underline the need to protect journalists and penalise those who seek to intimidate them.

Bangladesh

It is becoming dangerous to be a journalist in Bangladesh. News from a variety of sources paints a picture of press freedom under threat from political activists, police, and criminal elements. In the first four months of this year one reporter was killed and 35 others injured, whereas two journalists were murdered and 45 injured last year.

One of the three journalists, severely assaulted this year by criminal elements, succumbed to his injuries last week. Nahar Ali, a correspondent of the Khulna-based daily Anirban, died Sunday at the Khulna Medical College Hospital from injuries sustained upon being severely roughed up by a criminal gang. The attackers left Ali unconscious. The incident has heightened tension in the community of journalists.

The physical assault, harassment, and intimidation that journalists have often been subject to in the last few years has usually been a direct outcome of their trying to perform their duty. Last year, Tipu Sultan, Feni correspondent of the UNB, ran a series of reports on corruption among local politicians, including ruling Awami League lawmaker Joynal Abedin Hazari . The reports earned him the Best Reporter of the Year award from his agency. But he was battered and stabbed in an attack on January 25, allegedly by armed musclemen loyal to Hazari. in the violence-prone district. Sultan is recovering from surgery on both hands and legs at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in the capital. He needs further treatment to avoid physical handicap.

It is now not uncommon for journalists to be arrested and sent to jails on false charges. Offices, houses or vehicles of journalists have also come under attack. In most cases, assailants either belonged to the ruling party or had its blessings, or were part of organised gangs of criminals. Opposition activists engaged in anti-government street agitation, religious bigots and even police containing street agitation were also found involved in assaulting
scribes. .

Probir Sikder, a Faridpur correspondent of the daily Janakantha, has had a similar fate. Sikdar was shot and stabbed by a group of terrorists on Friday. He was on his way back home after collecting information on a highway robbery at Badarpur. Surgeons at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases had to amputate his bullet-hit right leg in April.

Two journalists of the Chittagong-based daily Purbakone were injured when a terrorist group, reportedly led by Mamunur Rashid Mamun, an armed cadre of the ruling party-backed Jubo League, stormed the newspaper office last week. The year, in fact, began with police roughing up three journalists in the capital, who were covering street celebrations on the New Year Day. Also in January, followers of an Islamic cleric attacked the crew of the state-run Bangladesh Television, while they were covering a section, mostly women, of audience at a gathering.