Agartala (Tripura): Senior journalists and Agartala Press Club members staged a protest on Sunday to show sympathy and denounce the murders of journalists, as well as attacks and other actions against media professionals in Bangladesh, a country rocked by violence.
Following the demonstration, at least five journalists were slain, over 100 were injured, and warrants were filed by the government against several members of different media outlets in Bangladesh, according to Secretary of the Agartala Press Club Ramakanta Dey.
The Agartala Press Club demanded that attacks on journalists cease and encouraged Bangladesh’s interim administration to ensure harsh punishment for those responsible.
According to a statement from Dey, the Press Club would step up its agitations if the attacks on media outlets and journalists persisted.
Prominent journalists and editors, including Agartala Press Club President Jayanta Bhattacharya, spearheaded the demonstration. They included Subal Kumar Dey, Sekhar Datta, Sanjib Deb, Rajkumar Kalyanjit Singh, and Sanjit Debnath.
According to Bhattacharya, attacks in Bangladesh have resulted in repression against journalists, preventing them from carrying out their professional responsibilities without hindrance.
“Our relation with the media community in Bangladesh has always been very close and cordial for the last many decades. Cultural, language and other traditional similarities also make the people of Tripura and Bangladesh very close since 1971,” he told the media.
The Press Club President said that Tripura has an 856-km-long border with Bangladesh, and before the recent unrest, thousands of people from both sides were visiting both northeastern states and the neighbouring country.
Veteran journalist Sekhar Datta said that in addition to Tripura’s media, writers, singers, performers, and cultural personalities have very close bonds with their counterparts in Bangladesh.
“After the Liberation War in 1971, singers, writers and performers of both countries performed numerous events in the northeastern states and Bangladesh regularly. Such events must continue to maintain the friendship between the people of the two countries,” Datta added.
During the past week, various other organisations in Tripura also organised protests against the reported atrocities and attacks on minorities, especially on the Hindus in Bangladesh.
–IANS
