‘Barring Adarsha against freedom of expression’

Fifty-nine eminent citizens of the country have expressed grave concern over publishing house "Adarsha" not being permitted to set up a stall at this year's Ekushey Boi Mela.

They urged authorities concerned to ensure Adarsha's participation in the fair and the freedom of writers and publishers to remain a part of the event.

At a press conference on Thursday at Dhaka Reporters Unity, Adarsha chief executive officer and publisher Mahabub Rahman told journalists that the publication's stall allocation in the fair has been postponed.

He said this is just a blatant attempt to suppress "dissent".

He also informed journalists that over 600 books have already been published by Adarsha, and more than 300 authors are associated with those. But out of all the books, allegations of "dissent" have been brought against only three books, for which the publication has been denied permission.

Meanwhile, the press statement by the eminent citizens said, "The state shall guarantee human dignity, rule of law and fundamental rights... and these are the major principles of Bangladesh born after the Language Movement and Liberation War. But we believe this denial of permission will violate an author's freedom to express their opinion."

"Bangla Academy is said to be the 'symbol of Bangalee intellect and mind'. Then why will it engage itself in such partisanship?" it mentioned.

The signatories include writer and politician Badruddin Umar, Prof Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, Prof Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque, poet and critic Farhad Mazhar, Prof Dilara Chowdhury, Prof Anu Muhammad, women leader Farida Akhtar, Dhaka University's Prof Asif Nazrul, Jahangirnagar University teacher Syed Ferdous, and DU teacher Robayet Ferdous.