Sit-in on Apr 8 before home ministry

As part of journalists' ongoing agitation demanding arrest and trial of killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi.

Dhaka, Mar 18 (bdnews24.com) –Journalists will state a sit-in programme in Dhaka on Apr 8 as part of their ongoing agitation demanding arrest and trial of the killers of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi.

President of a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury announced on Sunday that the programme will be staged in front of the home ministry. Leaders of the other factions of BFUJ were also present there.

The four-hour rally starting from 10am on Sunday was organised in front of the National Press Club to mount pressure on authorities to identify, arrest and try the killers.

BFUJ, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), National Press Club and Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) organised the rally.

The journalists staged a work abstention and hunger strike in Dhaka in the past.

Leaders of several journalist organisations also spoke at the progarmme.

Police remained vigilant while the road in front of the Press Club was closed to traffic during the Sunday programme.

Journalists' leader and former Press Club president Riazuddin Ahmed said, "The results will not be pleasant if they (government) try to cover up the murder case."

" What is happening surrounding the investigation is a shame. We will counter attack if someone tries to hush it up," he said.

The journalists on Feb 27 staged a one-hour abstention demanding identification and immediate arrest of the assailants.

Following the programme, they organised a hunger strike for similar demands.

On Feb 11, Maasranga Television news editor Golam Mostofa Sarowar, alias Sagar Sarowar, and his wife, ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Nahar Runi, were found murdered at their rented flat in the city's west Rajabazar.

More than a month after the killing, police are yet to arrest or even identify those who are involved in the macabre murder.

The High Court on Feb 28 issued a rule amid failure of police to identify the killers and publication of speculative reports in the media, asking the law-enforcers not to speak to the media unless there was specific progress in the investigation.

Howver, journalists have been strongly criticising the court's move.

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