Inu invites them to sit with them Sunday to discuss Digital Security Bill
Dhaka, Sept 26 – Urging the Sampadak Parishad (Editors’ Council) to postpone its Saturday’s human chain protesting against the Digital Security Bill, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Wednesday invited the editors to sit with him and others on Sunday.A letter signed by the minister was sent to the general secretary of the council in the evening, said a handout of the Information Ministry.
In the letter, the minister said he along with Law Minister Ansiul Huq, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabber and Prime Minister’s Media Affairs Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury wants to sit with the Editors’ Council at the conference room of his ministry at 12 noon on Sunday or at the convenient time of the council.
Mentioning that the Information Ministry has paid deep attention to the concern and statement of the Editors’ Council over the Digital Security Bill which was passed in Parliament recently, Inu said the meeting is very essential for a speedy and acceptable solution keeping the freedom of press, free flow of information and the government’s sincerity and respect to right to information intact.
He also expressed his belief that there is a scope for resolving the matter through discussion.
The minister requested the Editors’ Council to postpone its Saturday’s human chain programme.
At the same time, letters were sent to leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) and Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) inviting them to a meeting at the Information Ministry at 3 pm on Sunday.
Expressing its deep regret at the passage of the Digital Security Bill 2018, which it considers to be against the freedom guaranteed by the constitution, media freedom and freedom of speech, the Editors’ Council at a meeting on September 22 decided to stage a human chain at 11 am on September 29 in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
The much-talked-about ‘The Digital Security Bill, 2018’ was passed in Parliament on September 19 to deal with cybercrimes, including hurting the religious sentiment, negative propaganda against the Liberation War and Bangabandhu, and illegal activities in e-transactions and spreading defamatory data. – UNB
