Mostafa Kamal MajumderThe nation observes the 43rd anniversary of death of Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia, the legendary journalist of Bangladesh. A valiant fighter for press freedom, Manik Mia also forcefully championed democracy and through his powerful writings tremendously influenced the turn of politics in the country since the 1950s. The Daily Ittefaq under his able leadership fostered the cause of democratic and economic rights of the people of this land, which helped strengthen the movement for automony that ultimately turned into the movement for Independence of Bangladesh for democratic freedom and economic emancipation.The death anniversary of the colossus is being observed at a time when the media both print and electronic are complaining of different forms of pressure on their freedom. An opinion exchange meeting of the Foreign Minister Dipu Moni with editors of newspapers and CEOs of television channels recently focussed mainly on the technical closure of the largely circulated daily Amar Desh vernacular newspaper after the arrest of its acting editor Mahmudur Rahman from his office, and the sudden shut down of two popular television channels the Diganta tv and the Islamic tv figured prominently.
A noteworthy development has been the issuance of a joint statement by editors of leading dailies of Dhaka to demand the release of the Amar Desh editor, and reopening of the paper and the two recently closed television channels. From the government side contradictory statements were made about the closure of these media outlets. An important functionary of the government said that the Amar Desh was closed not under the Printing Presses and Publications Act which obviously meant that the authorities concerned wanted to convey a message that they did not act against press freedom. But the printing press of the daily was put under lock and key by police who went there on a search warrant. When Amar Desh management published the paper from alternative printing presses the proprietors and managers of those presses were asked not to do so and the publication of the paper came to a halt unceremoniously rendering several hundred of its journalists and employees jobless.
Some government functionaries commented that the editors of newspapers made their statement without knowing facts, because in their view the Amar Desh Editor was held on reported criminal charges under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. Of late a council of editors has been launched to help guard press freedom and uphold the ethical values and standards of the profession of journalism. All these developments have taken place at a time when the government and the opposition have continued to be at loggerheads with each other over the mode of holding of the next general elections which are due in six months. Holding of political meetings and rallies remain restricted. One ugly side of these developments is the growth of nakedly partisan press and media organisations which make no secret of their missions. News media organisations having adverse relationships with the establishment cannot function freely, and the growth of opposition press and media becomes severely restricted. The papers and tv channels highlighting the opposition viewpoints are thus the casualties. The media again have gone under the control of big business houses which have the ability to invest a lot of money and use their media as shields to protect their business empires. Businesses are also having a large measure of control on political parties and their politics.
Against this backdrop the ideals freedom of press to act as vanguard of people’s democratic and economic rights have become difficult to uphold. Partisanism has gone to such extremes that the joint statement of editors of the leading newspapers for freeing an arrested editor and reopening of closed newspapers and tv channels has been contradicted by some other editors of newspapers. Some recent political developments that have taken place in the wake of street protests against a verdict given by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to press for capital punishment of convicts of crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 war of liberation has sharply divided that nation. While the opposition is complaining of a move to reintroduce one-party rule in the country by forcing them to stop their political activities, the government is blaming the opposition for encouraging terrorism. Jamaat and its student wing Shibir has been lebelled as terrorist organisations even though Jamaat is a registered political party having representation in Parliament. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has been criticised for harbouring Jamaat, its key alley since 2001. The non-political religious platform Hefazat-e-Islam has also been branded as a militant organisation backed by the Jamaat and the BNP. Reports coming from across the country indicate that teachers of Madrasahs and Imams of Mosques who in their sermons expressed sympathies for the movement of the Hafazat-e-Islam are being purged.
Thus in the election year the people are hardly getting an opportunity to debate the day-to-day problems of life including the price hike of essentials, deterioration of law and order, jobs for young people, the unprecedented bank loan scams involving more than Taka 50,000 crore, corruption in every walk of life, and above all absence of a sense of security in public life because of murders and abductions. Objective analyses of the malaises facing the body politic is most needed at this hour. And it is here that the absence of fearless journalist like Manik Mia is urgently felt. Manik Mia’s objective was achievement of the national good rising above petty political differences. But partisan politics has not only divided the press and the media but also the journalist unions which concentrate more on keeping close to the parties of their choice rather than spelling out the truth on their face.
Famous Indian journalist Khushwant Sing once wrote that journalists in the past used to run after political leaders for news. With the development of the information and communications technology the scenario has changed. Now politicians run after the journalists for news. But his statement hardly holds in case of Bangladesh where journalists have also become partisan. We can pay real tributes to Manik Mia by taking lessons from him on how to uphold the right to speak the truth against all threats of intimidation. Politicians of his time used to hold Manik Mia in high esteem and take lessons and inspirations from his writings to chart the correct track of politics. They used to visit Manik Mia at his Ittefaq office at regular intervals. Today’s journalists do just the opposite. They feel privileged if they can visit the offices of political parties and show a keenness to act on their advices.
Journalists and their leaders should make a close scrutiny of the situation and fight to restore their unity to uphold the glorious tradition of their profession. Because, without a free and fearless press democracy is bound to suffer again and again. Let’s pray for the salvation of the soul of Manik Mia and pledge to safeguard the integrity of the profession that he so keenly sought to protect. (First published in The New Nation, Dhaka)
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