Quader urges media to maintain objectivity, Obaidul Quader, general secretary of the Awami League and minister of roads, bridges, and transportation has urged the media to be impartial in all areas and asked for their help in moving the nation forward. He was speaking tonight at the Dhaka Club in this city to journalists at a view-exchange event organized by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Dr. Hasan Mahmud, AL Joint General Secretary and Minister of Information and Broadcasting gave the opening remarks, and Bangladesh Press Council Chairman Justice Md. Nizamul Huq Nasim was also present.
Quader urges media to maintain objectivity
As well as Agriculture Minister Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, AL Advisory Council Member Mozaffar Hossain Paltu, Presidium Members Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman, Shajahan Khan, and Advocate Qamrul Islam, Organising Secretaries Mirza Azam and SM Kamal Hossain, and Deputy Publicity and Publications Secretary Aminul Islam Amin, the meeting was attended by a number of other people.
Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Managing Director and Chief Editor Abul Kalam Azad, daily Observer editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, Kal Bela editor Abed Khan, Ajker Patrika Editor Professor Golam Rahman, Jatiya Press Club (JPC) former President Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman, Jugantor editor Saiful Alam, Bangladesh Pratidin editor Nayeem Nizam, Manabzamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, New Age editor Nurul Kabir, Bhorer Kagoj editor Shyamal Dutta, Amader Natun Somoy editor Naimul Islam Khan, Bangladesh Post editor Sharif Shahabuddin, Ekattor Television Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mozzamel Babu,
Channel I director and news editor Shykh Seraj, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) former President Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul and incumbent President Omar Faruque, JPC President Farida Yasmin, BFUJ general secretary Dip Azad, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) President Sohel Haider Chowdhury and Journalists Welfare Trust Managing Director Subhash Chandra Badal were present among the media personalities.
“Awami League believes in democracy and practices democracy. Our prime agenda is to safeguard people’s lives and property. We need your (media) support to this end,” Quader said. He said after the brutal assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members, Indemnity Ordinance was issued to protect the killers and the history of the liberation war was distorted completely. AL leaders and workers were killed across the country, he mentioned. Pointing to BNP, he said those who don’t practice democracy how they will establish it the country.
When Quader questioned BNP about why it removed Section 7 from the party’s constitution, BNP responded that it done so to keep corrupt and convicted individuals in the party. Everyone remembers the atrocious grenade attacks BNP carried out on an AL gathering on August 21, 2004, he continued, adding that BNP sought to kill Sheikh Hasina, the president of the Awami League and the then-opposition leader.
“Now they (BNP) are talking about humanity,” he said. Quader said: “Though we have flaws, we are working for the nation. There can be differences in opinion and politics but we don’t do politics of killings. We didn’t give counter program rather we are working ahead of party council”.
Any administration in the world, according to Dr. Hasan Mahmud, cannot function perfectly since there are always some errors in the things that are done. He urged the media to highlight the nation’s greater accomplishments rather than highlighting its weaknesses. The minister remarked that the media had flourished under the Awami League government and urged them to highlight the accomplishments of that administration during the current global crisis.