Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed deep concern and strongly condemned the throwing of crude bombs, known locally as cocktails, outside daily Amar Desh’s own printing press in Dhaka’s Tejgaon industrial area, an attack that left two people injured.
The party’s secretary general, Mia Golam Parwar, voiced the concern in a press release sent to the media on Monday.
“The throwing of cocktails by miscreants in front of the daily Amar Desh press is extremely condemnable and worrying,” he said in the statement. “Violent attacks of this kind on important places such as media offices and newspaper printing presses are a threat to independent journalism, to the safety of the media and to the country’s law and order. I extend my sympathy to the press’s security guard, Aktar Hossain, and to Rina Khanam, who runs a betel-leaf shop in front of it, both of whom were injured, and I wish them a quick recovery.”
He added that the media is an important pillar of the state and of society. “Any attempt to obstruct the environment for independent journalism through intimidation, attacks or violence against the media goes against democratic values. Incidents like this cannot be accepted in any way.”
“I strongly urge the law enforcement agencies concerned to carry out a fair and impartial investigation and to quickly identify the attackers and bring them to justice,” Parwar said. “At the same time, I call for effective steps to ensure the security of the daily Amar Desh press and of every media organisation in the country.”
At around 11pm on Sunday, October 25, two men arrived on a motorcycle in front of the Amar Desh press, threw two cocktails and fled. One went off with a loud bang. The other, wrapped in red tape, was left lying there unexploded. The blast sent people nearby running, and a crowd later gathered at the spot.
Police from Tejgaon station and members of other law enforcement agencies arrived after being informed. Police then searched the surrounding area for the attackers but could not arrest anyone.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report