Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami amir Shafiqur Rahman on Friday condemned the attacks on Bangla daily Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, and New Age editor Nurul Kabir, a day after leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir called for the closure of the two dailies and urged ransacking of cultural organisations, including Chhayanaut and Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi.
In a post on his verified Facebook page Jamaat amir said that while the nation was united in demanding justice for the killing of Inquilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi, several distressing incidents had taken place across the country, which he described as concerning.
A free and independent media is a prerequisite for state stability, said Shafiqur stressing that ensuring the freedom and safety of the media was a collective responsibility.
‘We do not want to return to a culture where the media were subjected to blatant attacks, as seen during the fascist era,’ he said, urging the media outlets to act responsibly during the current crisis and to refrain from any form of hate-driven reporting.
Shafiqur also said that vandalism and arson at several cultural centres, including high commission offices, were unacceptable under any circumstances.
All mainstream Islamist parties and organisations in the country, he commented, believe in lawful processes and do not support vigilantism under any circumstances.
The Jamaat amir said that his party believed that such incidents might have been carried out deliberately by certain quarters as part of a planned sabotage attempt.
Meanwhile, Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union vice-president and Chhatra Shibir president, Mostakur Rahman, on Thursday night announced that Prothom Alo and The Daily Star must be shut down.
He made this announcement during a protest march and a subsequent rally immediately after the news of the death of Osman Hadi spread.
Shortly before Mostakur’s threat, the Prothom Alo office in Dhaka was attacked, looted, and set afire, after which a group of assailants also vadalised the Daily Star office and set fire to the building.
On the other hand, Chhatra Shibir Jahangirnagar University unit secretary general Mosatfizur Rahman on Thursday night called for ransacking cultural groups Chhayanaut, Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi, and the leftist groups.
He made the remarks while addressing a rally at the university’s central shaheed minar in protest of the killing of Inquilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi.
Hours after Mostafizur’s announcement, a group of assailants stormed the Chhayanaut premises, vandalising the building and setting parts of it on fire.
On Friday evening, an arson attack was also carried out at the office of Udichi Shilpigoshthi in Dhaka.
