Agartala Press Club protests against killing of journalists, attacks on media in B'desh

Expressing solidarity and protesting the killing of journalists, attacks and action against media persons in violence-torn Bangladesh, senior journalists and members of the Agartala Press Club on Sunday held a protest.

After the protest, Agartala Press Club Secretary Ramakanta Dey said that at least five journalists were killed, more than 100 injured and the authorities issued warrants against many members of various mediahouses in Bangladesh.

Demanding to stop attacks against journalists, the Agartala Press Club urged the interim government of Bangladesh to arrange severe punishment for the perpetrators.

If the attacks against the journalists and media houses continue, the Press Club would intensify its agitations, Dey said in a statement.

Veteran journalists and editors -- Subal Kumar Dey, Sekhar Datta, Sanjib Deb, Rajkumar Kalyanjit Singh, Sanjit Debnath, besides Agartala Press Club President Jayanta Bhattacharya led the protest.

Bhattacharya said that the journalists were in repression due to attacks in Bangladesh and were not able to freely discharge their professional duties.

"Our relation with the media community in Bangladesh has always been very close and cordial for the last many decades. Cultural, language and other traditional similarities also make the people of Tripura and Bangladesh very close since 1971," he told the media.

The Press Club President said that Tripura has a 856-km long border with Bangladesh and before the recent unrest, thousands of people from both sides were visiting both northeastern states and the neighbouring country.

Veteran journalist Sekhar Datta said that besides the media, writers, singers, performers and cultural personalities of Tripura have very close bonding with their counterparts in Bangladesh.

"After the Liberation war in 1971, singers, writers and performers of both the countries performed numerous events in the northeastern states and Bangladesh regularly. Such events must continue to maintain the friendship between the people of the two countries," Datta added.

During the past week, various other organisations in Tripura also organised protests against the reported atrocities and attacks on the minorities, specially on the Hindus in Bangladesh.