Country far away from democracy
Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Chairman Akbar Ali Khan yesterday said Bangladesh is still far away from real democracy.
“There is no democracy in the country, we're much behind compared to the scale of world democracy,” he told a discussion meeting titled “Press Freedom and Safety of Journalists”.
National Association of Unesco Clubs in Bangladesh organised the discussion marking the World Press Freedom Day with Prof Muzaffer Ahmad in the chair.
About press freedom, Khan said the country's media are not enjoying full freedom. “What they're enjoying is partial. Without meaningful press freedom, democracy will fall in the hands of miscreants,” the former adviser to the caretaker government said.
Prof Muzaffer Ahmad alleged that the owners of newspapers and media and ad-providers in Bangladesh force the newspapers and media not to publish the truth.
“We're talking about right to information of the public sector corruption, but it's not true that corruption exists only in the public sector, it is also widespread in the private sector,” he said.
About the recent “slow-moving” anti-corruption drive by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), he said the past and recent speeches of the ACC chairman prove that his organisation's drive against corruption is not moving with the expected pace.
President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul said World Press Freedom Day is being observed here at a time when the article 39 of the constitution that ensures the freedom of speech remained suspended.
Jatiya Press Club President Shawkat Mahmud described the restrictions on press by the government after the 1/11 as “peculiar”.
Criticising the role of the UN secretary general just before the declaration of emergency, he said it is not justifiable that the UN will have a role in expediting the declaration of emergency in a country through a letter.
“The UN needs to play a role in lifting the emergency and restoration of democracy,” he said.
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