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Published : 20 Feb 2026, 02:02 PM
Former interim government advisor Fouzul Kabir Khan has acknowledged his administration’s "failure" to prevent the arson attack on the offices of daily Prothom Alo following the death of political activist Sharif Osman bin Hadi last year.
In a Facebook post on Friday, he said there were no “ifs or buts” about the government’s responsibility.
“The interim government failed to save the newspaper from being set ablaze. The responsibility for this failure is ours. There are no ifs or buts here,” he wrote.
Fouzul, who served as advisor for the ministries of power and energy, and road transport and bridges, said he visited the fire-damaged building in Karwan Bazar on Wednesday morning to attend an art exhibition.
Describing the attack as “unfortunate”, he said such incidents were “not rare”, drawing a comparison with the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC by extremists.
However, he termed the failure of law-enforcing agencies to protect the newspaper “unforgivable” and called for measures to prevent a recurrence.
“We must move forward to ensure that such incidents do not recur. We cannot escape this simply by blaming extremists,” he wrote.
Calling for dialogue, he said: “The most harmful idea of our time is that only I am right and everyone else is our opponent. We must come out of this mindset and begin dialogue with all dissenting voices.”
He also referred to allegations of brutality against Islamists or extremists in the country and claims of “manufacturing consent” against progressives, citing journalist Shafik Rehman.
“Once again, I condemn the arson attack by extremists on Prothom Alo and accept responsibility for the interim government’s failure to prevent it,” he said.
A group of attackers stormed the Prothom Alo office on the night of Dec 18 after news spread of the death of Osman Hadi, convenor of Inqilab Moncho. The assailants broke shutters and glass doors, entered the premises, vandalised property and set fires.
The same night, the building of The Daily Star was also attacked. Arson incidents were reported at the cultural organisation Chhayanaut and, the following day, at the offices of Udichi Shilpigosthi.
As a result of the attack, Prothom Alo did not publish its print edition on Dec 19 for the first time in its history, and its online service was temporarily suspended. Online operations resumed within 17 hours, and the print edition returned on the morning of Dec 20.
An art exhibition titled “Alo” opened at the fire-damaged building on Feb 18. Organised by artist Mahbubur Rahman, the inauguration was attended by newspaper owners, editors, leaders of journalists’ associations and other media professionals.
