The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday said that it would revoke all the repressive acts and ordinances, including the Digital Security Act, if it was voted to power.
‘We [BNP] would like to clearly say that if we form the government, all the repressive acts and ordinances that are creating obstacles to the independence of the media and freedom of speech will be cancelled,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a view-exchange programme.
The party organised the view-exchange meeting titled, ‘Media Control Laws in Annihilating the Media: Bangladesh Perspective’ with journalists at National Press Club.
Fakhrul at the programme said that their party believed it was not possible to give democracy an international shape without the independence of the media.
‘BNP will ensure the implementation of the wage board for journalists and media employees and empower the Press Council if it comes to power,’ Fakhrul said.
He said that BNP would ensure a fair distribution of advertisements to make the media self-sufficient.
The BNP will also give financial incentives to the media based on their circulations, campaigns or TRPs, Fakhrul said.
‘We believe that the victory of the people must be achieved. Everyone has to wake up. In order to protect ourselves, to protect the interests of journalists, to protect the people, to protect the independence and sovereignty of this country, we must all stand united today and defeat this monstrous fascist force,’ he added.
Former BNP lawmaker Zahir Uddin Swapan, a member of the party's executive committee, read the keynote paper in the view exchange programme.
Daily Prothom Alo joint editor Sohrab Hasan said that the commitment BNP made is agreeable. But journalists cannot be certain of it because of Bangladesh’s past record.
‘No government since independence has been newspaper or media-friendly,’ he said, adding that whoever came to the power after independence harassed the media.
Leaders of different pro-BNP journalist organisations participated in the meeting.
