Chief Adviser Yunus for building national consensus, assures media full freedom
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Chief Adviser to the interim government Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday sought the media’s cooperation in building a national consensus.
“We have got an opportunity to rebuild and reform the country after the student-led revolution; let’s explore it” he was quoted as saying while exchanging views with the editors of the top Dailies of the country at the State Guest House Jamuna.
The Chief Adviser also assured the editors of ensuring full freedom of the media and of repealing all the black laws enacted earlier to curb the freedom of the press, said Mahfuz Anam, Editor of the Daily Star, and Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, in separate press briefings.
“We have expressed our total solidarity with the activities of the government of Dr Yunus,” Mr Anam told the reporters after the meeting.
Dr Yunus told the editors that he has no plan of his own about the tenure of the government and he want to fix it based on people’s aspirations and assess public opinion about this through the media.
There were divergent opinions among the editors on this; some suggested a tenure of 2 or 3 years, while others said it should not exceed two years.
‘We said that the government should first fix its agenda, and then the tenure can be determined based on those agendas’, Mr Anam said.
“We have also urged the CA to stop the filing of cases against journalists indiscriminately. If any journalist is involved in corruption, he or she can be sued,” Mr Anam said, adding that the Chief Adviser told them that it was not the policy of the government to harass journalists.
The editors proposed forming an independent media commission to ensure freedom of the press and to repeal the black laws like the Cyber Security Act.
The Chief Adviser urged the editors to write freely about the wrongdoings of the government so that corrective measures could be taken.
The editors also raised the issues of reforming the constitution, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), the banking sector, local government, police, and autonomous bodies.
One of the editors prescribed the rewriting of the Bank Company Act, noting that it had been amended several times in the past to pave the way for the bank owners to plunder public money.
He also suggested abolishing the Financial Institution Division, which, as a controlling body of the state-owned financial institutions, provided undue facilities to some vested swindlers.
Some of the editors suggested the formation of committees to conduct meaningful reform in different sectors.
The formation of constituent assemblies was also suggested for rewriting the constitution, Mr Shafiq said at the briefing.
The issue of reforming the Election Commission (EC) was also discussed, with the editors saying that the EC should be formed in a manner that allows it to enjoy true freedom to hold free, fair and credible elections.
The editors thanked the Chief Adviser for his initiative to secure pardons for the 57 convicted Bangladeshi workers in the UAE.
“It was possible because we have a leader like Dr Yunus, who personally talked to the head of the UAE government to secure the pardon for the Bangladeshi workers” Mr Anam said.