DHAKA NEWS
Journalists yesterday announced a grand rally to be held on March 18 in Dhaka to press home their three-point demand including immediate arrest of the killer(s) of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.
The rally will be held in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 11:00am, said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ).
Sagar, news editor at private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Runi, a senior reporter at another TV channel, ATN Bangla, were killed in the wee hours on February 11 at their rented apartment in West Rajabazar in the capital.
The BFUJ president also announced to hold several rallies across the country till March 15 to unify the journalists to strengthen their movement.
The journalist leader made the announcement at a six-hour hunger strike programme that began at 10:00am on the National Press Club premises to press home the same demands.
"We will go for greater movement in phases if our demands are not met. But we will not announce any whimsical programmes," he said.
Journalists from electronic and print media participated in the hunger strike as part of their continuous demonstration protesting against the government's "dilly-dallying approach" to arrest the killers.
Their other demands are stopping repression on media personnel and ensuring freedom of the press.
Earlier, the newspersons held a rally in front of the press club on February 22 and abstained from work for one hour on February 27.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) jointly launched the programmes.
The journalists stressed the need for maintaining unity irrespective of their ideologies and opinions to strengthen the movement.
They strongly criticised the government and law-enforcement agencies for their failure to arrest the killers 18 days after the incident.
They also sharply reacted to a High Court directive to the media regarding reports on the double murder.
An HC bench on Tuesday in one of its rulings directed the information secretary to take steps within 24 hours to ensure that the media do not publish any speculative news on the incident.
Journalist leaders apprehended that this directive might hamper the independence of the media.
Ruhul Amin Gazi, president of another faction of BFUJ, said Home Minister Shahara Khatun should have stepped down after crossing her 48-hour deadline to arrest the killers. On the other side, Dhaka Union of Journalists General Secretary Saban Mahmud also demanded the minister's resignation.
BFUJ Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuyian, DUJ presidents Omar Faruk and Abdus Shaheed, National Press Club President Kamaluddin Sabuj, DRU President Shakhawat Hossain Badsha, General Secretary Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu, noted journalist Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul and columnist Syed Abul Maksud, among others, spoke at the hunger strike programme.
The rally will be held in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 11:00am, said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ).
Sagar, news editor at private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Runi, a senior reporter at another TV channel, ATN Bangla, were killed in the wee hours on February 11 at their rented apartment in West Rajabazar in the capital.
The BFUJ president also announced to hold several rallies across the country till March 15 to unify the journalists to strengthen their movement.
The journalist leader made the announcement at a six-hour hunger strike programme that began at 10:00am on the National Press Club premises to press home the same demands.
"We will go for greater movement in phases if our demands are not met. But we will not announce any whimsical programmes," he said.
Journalists from electronic and print media participated in the hunger strike as part of their continuous demonstration protesting against the government's "dilly-dallying approach" to arrest the killers.
Their other demands are stopping repression on media personnel and ensuring freedom of the press.
Earlier, the newspersons held a rally in front of the press club on February 22 and abstained from work for one hour on February 27.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) jointly launched the programmes.
The journalists stressed the need for maintaining unity irrespective of their ideologies and opinions to strengthen the movement.
They strongly criticised the government and law-enforcement agencies for their failure to arrest the killers 18 days after the incident.
They also sharply reacted to a High Court directive to the media regarding reports on the double murder.
An HC bench on Tuesday in one of its rulings directed the information secretary to take steps within 24 hours to ensure that the media do not publish any speculative news on the incident.
Journalist leaders apprehended that this directive might hamper the independence of the media.
Ruhul Amin Gazi, president of another faction of BFUJ, said Home Minister Shahara Khatun should have stepped down after crossing her 48-hour deadline to arrest the killers. On the other side, Dhaka Union of Journalists General Secretary Saban Mahmud also demanded the minister's resignation.
BFUJ Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuyian, DUJ presidents Omar Faruk and Abdus Shaheed, National Press Club President Kamaluddin Sabuj, DRU President Shakhawat Hossain Badsha, General Secretary Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu, noted journalist Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul and columnist Syed Abul Maksud, among others, spoke at the hunger strike programme.
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