Protesters denounce Prothom Alo
The members of an online group yesterday demonstrated in front of the office of the daily Prothom Alo in the capital, protesting a reference to the country's Liberation War in 1971 as the "India-Pakistan war" in an article published recently in the newspaper.
Activists of the group known as "CP Gang" burnt copies of the daily and demanded arrest of its editor Motiur Rahman and cancellation of its publication.
On May 17, the Prothom Alo published a profile of India's newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, titled 'Tea-seller to Prime Minister', in which it said Modi had
“formally joined the RSS as a 'campaigner' after the India-Pakistan war of 1971”.
Soon after this, the group announced on its facebook page that it would lay siege to the Prothom Alo office.
The daily, in a clarification after the article was published, said it had translated an article of the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) and printed it "without any change".
Though the same news article was published by at least one other daily of the country, protesters targeted only the Prothom Alo when they raised the issue.
Around 3:30pm yesterday, about 50 people gathered before the Petrobangla office at Karwan Bazar.
Heavy deployment of police was seen in the area at the time.
Carrying placards, the protesters marched towards the Prothom Alo office chanting slogans like "Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu", "No mercy for the history distorter" and "We won't tolerate insult to martyrs" etc., in Bangla.
They held a banner blaming the Prothom Alo for "instigating communal violence", "belittling representation of women" and "misappropriation of money in the name of helping the poor". They also distributed leaflets, urging people to boycott the newspaper.
The Daily Star correspondent found at least three central and Dhaka University unit leaders and several activists of the Chhatra League, student front of the ruling Awami League, among the protesters.
The protesters left the area after around 30 minutes.
The demonstration was staged just two days after Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the prime minister's son, posted a statement on his facebook page: "I am shocked that Prothom Alo, our largest Bengali newspaper, is referring to our War of Liberation as an India-Pakistan war."
Joy went on to say, "Let us boycott Prothom Alo and send them a message. We will oppose anyone who does not support Bangladesh."
Bangladesh achieved independence on December 16 after a nine-month war against Pakistan in 1971. Between December 3 and December 16 of that year, the war was widely referred to as the "Indo-Pak war" in the Indian media.
However, the war spanning the period between March 26, 1971, and December 16, 1971, is internationally recognised as Bangladesh's War of Liberation.
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