Daily Star will face action: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pulled up English newspaper ‘The Daily Star' for carrying a picture of a Hizb-ut-Tahrir poster, saying this is tantamount to helping the radical cause.

Parliament Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Feb 2015, 01:34 PM
Updated : 18 Feb 2015, 01:58 PM

Replying to a Parliament question on Wednesday, Hasina said, "We will move against those who help the Hizb-ut-Tahrir by publishing their posters in the paper."

The question by Jatiya Party MP Pir Fazlul Rahman provoked a furious response from the prime minister,

"A nondescript poster in one corner of Banglamotor has been blown out of proportions on the pages of Daily Star. Carrying the poster of a banned outfit in the paper is surely helping it to propagate its cause."

She said The Daily Star has played the force multiplier for Hizb-ut-Tahrir by playing up its poster.

"I don’t care whether they have written positively or negatively but by blowing up the visual image of this nondescript poster at a corner of Banglamotor which would have attracted no attention, the paper has helped the radical cause."

Hasina appealed to the media to be mindful of what is in national interest while they finalise their output. "Specially they need to keep in mind what is lawful and what is unlawful."

She said her government would surely take steps against the paper for 'helping the Hizb-ut-Tahrir cause', adding that she failed to understand how a mainstream paper could do something like this.

A lawyer has already moved the court against the English daily’s editor Mahfuz Anam and three others for carrying the visual of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir poster that he argues can adversely impact on communal harmony and law and order.

On Feb 11, The Daily Star ran a piece, 'Fanatics raise their ugly head again', with which the picture of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir poster was used.