Diganta TV off air in Srimangal, Kulaura

Local cable operators in Moulivibazar’s Srimangal and Kulaura knocked private satellite television Diganta TV off the air on Sunday.

The move came following demands charted out by Shahbagh protesters for what they said ‘a country free of war criminals.’

The six-point charter of demand of the protesters include boycotting all products manufactured by institutions financing alleged war criminals, media outlets and social media sites or networks owned by war criminals or those who patronise or support suspected war criminals.

Names of some of such institutions such as university admission coaching centres Retina and Focus, Islami Bank, Ibn Sina Hospital, Diganta and Islamic TVs were mentioned in the slogans throughout the six days since the protest began on Feb 5.

Diganta TV is a concern of Diganta Media Corporation, which is run by Mir Quasem Ali. Ali is a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and he is the Chairman of the institution.

“We have suspended airing Diganta TV channel from Friday evening expressing solidarity with the call from Shahbagh demonstration demanding death penalties for all war criminals including Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla and boycotting all institutions owned by those assisting war criminals,” Akbar Hossain Shahin, a member of the cable operators platform in Srimangal, said.

However, another member of the body, Mossabbir Ali Munna, also a local BNP leader, claimed that a faction of the platform forcibly stopped the telecast of Diganta TV although no announcement came from COAB (Cable Operators’ Association of Bangladesh).

Another member, Partha Sarathi Das, alleged several members of the local operators’ platform suddenly suspended telecast of the private channel.

The channel’s Moulvibazar correspondent Abdul Aziz said Diganta TV’s telecast in the Robir Bazar area, under Kulaura upazila’s Prithimpasha union, has also been suspended.