By IANS
Dhaka : Several media persons, including university campus correspondents, were beaten up and some jailed for violating curfew restrictions as authorities in Bangladesh asked media to play “a responsible role”.
“We do not like imposing censorship. But that does not mean we will not do it,” Law and Information Advisor Mainul Hosein told media as government braced to impose nationwide curfew after three days of campus rioting.
Among those beaten was Kamrul Hasan Khan, Dhaka University correspondent of The Daily Star and a post-graduate student of the university, his newspaper said Friday.
The paper said Khan was waylaid in the campus by policemen converging in vehicles and he received severe injuries on his hands and feet.
Media persons were directed to carry curfew passes. Several journalists were reportedly beaten up and a number of them arrested while they were headed home during the curfew.
Various media reports blamed the violence on the army personnel, the police, and the elite paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAP).
The government Thursday asked the Ekushey Television (ETV) and Focus Multimedia Company Limited (CSB) to refrain from telecasting any provocative news, documentaries, talk shows and discussions against the government.
In separate orders issued yesterday, the government said it could impose a ban or attach conditions on telecasting provocative news, documentaries, talk shows and discussions against the government according to Article 5 of the Emergency Power Rules 2007.
Not only the campus and educational institutions, but industry, particularly the readymade garments industry, Bangladesh’s main foreign exchange earner, remained closed as curfew was imposed with only a three-hour relaxation Thursday.
Media and commercial activities were further hit as the Internet line snapped for 13 hours. Bangladesh is connected by an under-sea cable that was snapped at the entry point near Cox’s Bazaar.
The disruption deprives the line’s owner-Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) of a revenue of $70,000 per hour.
The government crackdown came after students and teachers rioted in many university campuses across the country over an incident Monday at a football match in Dhaka University campus after a soldier beat up students watching the match.
In another development, cases have been filed against thousands of unnamed persons allegedly involved in campus violence, New Age newspaper reported Friday.
The figure for Dhaka University that witnessed the worst protests is 3,000, while in Rajshahi University, where a rickshaw-puller died, cases have been filed against 2,500 unnamed persons.
The Secretary of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital has filed cases against 200 persons alleging that they ransacked his office.