Journos to down pens for one hour on Feb 27

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Thursday, 23 February 2012

Author / Source : Staff Reporter

Dhaka, Feb 22: Journalists across the country will down pens for one hour on February 27 demanding immediate arrest and trial of the killers of Golam Mustafa Sagar alias Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Nahar alias Meherun Runi. The pen-down programme will begin at 12:00 pm on the day. The journalists will also observe a six-hour token hunger strike, from 10:00 am on March 1, if the perpetrators are not put behind bars by February 27.
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalist (BFUJ), announced the agitation programme at a rally held in front of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC) on Wednesday.
The rally was organised as part of their countrywide demonstration demanding immediate arrest and trial of the killers of the journalist couple.
Different journalists' associations, including both factions of BFUJ and also both factions of Dhaka Union of Journalists, Jatiya Press Club and Dhaka Reporters’ Unity took part in the protest rally and brought out a procession at 11:30 am, which stretched from JPC intersection to Paltan intersection in the capital.
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said, “Journalists and media personnel across the country, working in newspapers, television channels, news agencies and online media will not work from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm on February 27.”
“A token hunger strike will also be staged from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on March 1 at National Press Club in the capital. Similar programmes will also be held at press clubs across the country,” he said.
He also threatened to launch tougher movements if the killers of Sagar and Runi were still not arrested by then.
Urging journalists to close ranks on the issue, he said journalists should work together and there should be no disputes among them. If anyone tries to create anarchy, he/she will be identified as infiltrator, he added.
Earlier, journalists formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club at 11:00 am. Participating in the human chain, veteran journalist Nirmal Sen, who arrived at the venue by a wheel chair, sought “guarantee of normal death”.
Since Sen cannot speak, his written speech was read out by Syed Abdal Ahmad, general secretary of the National Press Club.
Sen said, “Union was not divided during my term. It is now divided into two. But I am feeling good as journalists are now united because of the tragic killing of the journalist couple.”
He said, “I like politics. But I don’t want politics in journalists’ union.” Urging journalists to unit, Sen said, “I want to see you united before my death.”
He told to journalists, “I will always join your programmes if you work jointly.”
Another veteran journalist ABM Musa, gave his speech over mobile phone as he is undergoing treatment at Lab Aid Hospital in the city.
Meanwhile, journalists staged sit-in programmes and held rallies across the country. They also blocked roads including the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway.
The police are yet to explain the motive for the twin murders even as 12 days have passed after Sagar Sarwar, a news editor of Maasranga Television, and his wife Meherun Runi, a senior reporter of ATN Bangla, were killed at their rented flat on the fourth floor of Shahjalal Rashid Lodge at West Rajabazar in the capital on February 11.
Inspector general of police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker had earlier claimed that the police had made “remarkable progress” in solving the case within a 48-hour deadline set by home minister Sahara Khatun.
Sahara later said the 48-hour deadline was a “tactic” to get the law enforcers to speed up work. But the police are yet to come up with any clues to the murders or the identities of the killers.