Two Star journos receive CTTC awards

Two journalists of The Daily Star yesterday received awards for their outstanding reporting on prevention of violent extremism.

The awards were conferred by Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

The newspaper’s head of Crime Desk Shariful Islam and staff reporter Mohammad Jamil Khan were jointly awarded in the print media category.

Four other journalists were also awarded for their reports.

They are: Sheikh Sabiha Alam, special correspondent of the daily Prothom Alo; Khan Muhammad Rumel, senior reporter of Somoy TV; Shamima Sultana Labu, staff correspondent of Channel 24; and Nuruzzaman Labu, senior crime reporter of online news portal Bangla Tribune.  

CTTC unit chief Monirul Islam, who is also the acting commissioner of DMP, handed the awards to the six journalists at a ceremony in DMP Media Centre.

CTTC unit organised the programme under the project “Construction of counter terrorism and transnational crime protection centre for Bangladesh police”.

Prof Abdus Salam of Dhaka University’s journalism department was chief of the three-member jury board who selected the awardees.

Two other members of jury board were: Press Club President and Editor of the daily Jugantar Saiful Alam and DBC News CEO Mohammad Manzurul Islam.

Winners were presented crests, Tk 50,000 for each report and certificates.

Prof Dr Abdus Salam said policing and journalism are both risky professions.

He suggested that the journalists take on a heroic role for the sake of society with objective reporting.

Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, moderated the programme, where Pralay Kumar Joarder, deputy commissioner of CTTC unit, gave the welcome speech.

CTTC unit chief Monirul Islam said they hold talks with people from different professions and students to generate awareness on extremism.

At the programme, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit also gave awards to school, college and madrasa students for winning the anti-violent extremism essay competition. Three students received awards in the category.