Agartala Press Club state protest demonstration against killing of five journalists and injuries inflicted on more than a hundred

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 11, 2024

The members and office bearers of Agartala Press Club, Tripura’s apex media body, today staged a protest demonstration against the gruesome killing of five journalists and serious injuries inflicted on more than a hundred others by fundamentalist miscreants over the past few days in post-Awami League Bangladesh. According to authentic reports from conventional and social media as well as from an official report sent by eminent media rights personality of northeast, Naba Thakuria from Guwwahati five journalists have been killed and more than a hundred others have been injured while many other journalists including the incumbent secretary of Dhaka national press club Shyamal Datta and former president Shabina Yasmin have been under house-arrest and may actually be arrested soon.

Taking all these into cognizance the president of Agartala Press Club Jayanta Bhattacharjee and secretary Romakanta Deb called the protest demonstration in front of the press club building where many members and other office bearers stood silently for one hour with placards in hand showing solidarity to the oppressed media persons in Bangladesh after a state of anarchy gripped the country following the departure of Sheikh Hasina on August 5.

In a brief speech the president of Agartala Press Club Jayanta Bhattacharjee strongly condemned the killing of journalists , injuries inflicted on more than a hundred others and general victimization of media by the fundamentalist elements backing the interim government. “The journalists only perform their professional duties giving equal coverage to the ruling party and the opposition and there is no reason for selectively targeting individual journalists; what is happening in Bangladesh now is shameful and the interim government should bring the attackers on media in Bangladesh to book and give compensation to the families of journalists killed and injured” said Jayanta Bhattacharjee. He added that unless the repression on journalists stops immediately the Agartala Press Club in association with national and international media organizations will continue protests.

Senior journalist Sekhar Datta, while addressing the protesting members of Agartala Press Club, said that there have been regime changes in many countries , specially in Tusnisia, Libya and Egypt in 2011 as part of ‘Arab Spring’ but nowhere have media been attacked and killed like this as in Bangladesh. Veteran editor Sanjib Deb also addressed the programme and protested the heinous nature of selective targeting of journalists in Bangladesh, demanding drastic action from the interim government. This was followed by a speech of former Club president and editor of ‘Syandan Patrika’ Subal Dey who also exposed the hidden agenda behind the persecution of journalists in post-Hasina Bangladesh.