Prothom Alo trashes reports by Bashundhara

In response to reports by the Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin, the daily Prothom Alo in a press release yesterday trashed claims in the two dailies owned by Bashundhara Group.
Following is the press release:
Our attention has been drawn to two reports published yesterday (May 10, 2010) in daily Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin, both owned by Bashundhara Group.
The Dainik Kaler Kantha report was headlined "Matiur Rahman wanted to save Tajuddin" while the Bangladesh Protidin report was titled "Salam Pintu admits relations between Prothom Alo editor and Maulana Taj".
The reports implicating Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman and Special Correspondent Tipu Sultan are completely false, fabricated and baseless. We reject and vehemently condemn the false reports.
In its report, Kaler Kantha claimed that the Detective Branch of Police on April 29 interrogated him (Abdus Salam Pintu) and recorded his statement under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code." The Detective Branch is commonly known as DB. But it is the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) that investigated the August 21 case. So the base of the Kaler Kantha report is wrong. However, the report at one place mentioned that CID has been investigating the case. The Bangladesh Protidin report said Pintu had given a statement to CID.
We feel the news published in the two dailies of Bashundhara Group are not only vindictive, but also a deep-rooted conspiracy.
Prothom Alo has been investigating the August 21, 2004 grenade attack from its very occurrence and publishing a series of reports on it.
During the last four-party alliance government's rule, an attempt was made to divert the investigation of the case by making up a "Joj Miah" story. Prothom Alo was the first to publish a report terming Joj Miah's statement a cock-and-bull story and ran a cartoon on it.
Prothom Alo has been following different aspects of the investigation for the last six years as a responsibility of a newspaper. It is Prothom Alo that first published a report based on an investigation that militant organisation Harkatul Jihad had been involved in the attack.
Also, Prothom Alo was the first to report that former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu's younger brother Maulana Tajuddin had supplied the grenade used in the attack. Also, we were the first to report that the militants held a meeting at Abdus Salam Pintu's home to plan the attack.
The past six years witnessed much of drama over the August 21 attack case. Whenever an attempt was made to divert the investigation, Prothom Alo broke the news as a responsible newspaper. In a commentary, the Prothom Alo editor demanded the real culprits are identified and condemned the alliance government's farce in the name of investigation.
So we think the false news published in the two papers of Bashundhara Group is another ill attempt and conspiracy to derail the investigation of the case. If the case is hampered, mainly the militant groups and their backers will be benefited.
The quarter thinks Prothom Alo is a big obstacle to diverting the investigation. So we feel the two newspapers have simultaneously published the fabricated reports to benefit the evil force by attacking Prothom Alo. It is nothing but an attempt to protect the evil force, which tried to rob a political party of its leadership through the grenade attack. The investigation has been hindered and attempts made to destroy the case from its beginning.
We would like to say it categorically that no meeting had ever been held between anybody and Maulana Tajuddin at the Prothom Alo office. The claim that Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman or journalist Tipu Sultan had close ties with Abdus Salam Pintu and Tajuddin was made up and imaginary.
The description quoting the so-called statement that "Tajuddin used to meet Matiur Rahman through Tipu" is completely false and fabricated. As a professional journalist, Tipu Sultan -- in different times following the principles of journalism -- has taken statements of Abdus Salam Pintu and Tajuddin, accused in the August 21 grenade attack case about their involvement, which was published in Prothom Alo. But Abdus Salam Pintu or Tajuddin had never come to the Prothom Alo office.
Matiur Rahman had never met them at the Prothom Alo office or anywhere else. Nor did they have any talks through any medium. The contents of the reports in which the two papers said about formation of a political party to help BNP, DGFI backing and alerting Tajuddin about the August 21 grenade attack are completely fabricated and baseless.
It is not the first attack by Bashundhara Group on Prothom Alo. From the very beginning, the Bashundhara newspapers have been publishing false, fabricated and malicious news against Matiur Rahman, editor of Prothom Alo, and Latifur Rahman, chairman of its owning company Mediastar Ltd. Earlier, this clique had posted posters in parts of the capital city demanding the hanging of Matiur Rahman and Latifur Rahman.
Not only that, earlier more than six months after the devastating fire at Bashundhara City, Bashundhara Group filed a general diary with Tejgaon Police Station bringing false and fabricated allegations against the editors of Prothom Alo and Samakal.
Yesterday's reports in Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin are part of their continuous ill attempts. It is just another cooked-up story by Bashundhara Group that used its newspapers. We are bewildered at such misuse of press freedom out of vindication. We condemn it.
We request you to publish this protest of Prothom Alo on the first page with same importance as the published reports. At the same time, if Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin authorities do not apologise for publishing this false news, we will be compelled to take legal action.

On behalf of Prothom Alo
(Md Nurul Alam)
Deputy Manager (Administration)
Prothom Alo