MASS MEDIA-FREE PRESS | Bangladesh shuts down main opposition newspaper Dainik Dinkal

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 Contributor 0 Comment MASS MEDIA-FREE PRESS | Bangladesh shuts down main opposition newspaper

Journalists of Dainik Dinkal publication hold a rally to protest against the government’s order to halt its production in Dhaka on February 20, 2023.(AFP/Munir Uz Zaman)

Shutdown of Dainik Dinkal is a blatant attack on media freedom: CPJ

The only newspaper of Bangladesh’s main opposition party halted printing on Monday after a government suspension order was upheld, stoking fears about media freedom in the South Asian nation.

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Campaigners and foreign governments, including the United States, have long expressed worries about efforts by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to silence criticism and what they see as creeping authoritarianism.

Dainik Dinkal, a broadsheet Bengali-language newspaper, has been a vital voice of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for more than three decades.

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TRIVIA:

Dainik Dinkal is a daily newspaper published in Bengali language. The newspaper published from Dhaka is also known as the mouthpiece of BNP . ^[4] On 19 February 2023, the Bangladesh Press Council announced the publication of the newspaper. ^[5]^[6]

daily routine

type	daily newspaper
format	Broadsheet and online version
publisher	Tariq Rahman
editor	Rezwan Siddiqui (Acting) ^[1]
Founding period	1986 ; 36 years ago ^[2]
the language	Bangla
Headquarters	Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh
the country	Bangladesh
circulation	15,580 ^[1]^[3]
website	dainikdinkal.net _
Bangladesh media List of newspapers

history

Publication of Dainik Dinkal started in 1986. It was then published under the editorship of Sanaullah Noori ^{[2] and the publication of Majeedur Rahman.}Later on April 16, 2002, acting chairman of BNP, Tarek Rahman, took over the role of publisher and minter of the newspaper . ^[4] Rezwan Siddiqui is currently serving as the acting editor of the magazine.

Publication cease announcement

On December 26, 2022, an office order was issued by the publication branch of the Dhaka District Magistrate to cancel the Daily Dinkal newspaper. ^[4] In the said office order, the publisher of the newspaper was staying outside the country for a long time without assigning any responsibility, being sentenced in a criminal case and changing the address of the office and the printing press without the permission of the authorities, so the declaration of printing the newspaper was canceled in the name of Tariq Rahman. As a result, the publication of the newspaper was stopped. ^[4]^[7]^[8]According to Rezwan Siddiqui, acting editor of the paper, in 2016 the ownership of the paper was officially transferred from Tariq Rahman to a nominee and legal documents were submitted to the Bangladesh High Commission in London. ^[1]^[4]

When Dainik Dinkal appealed to the Bangladesh Press Council for a stay of cancellation, the publication continued from December 29, 2022. ^[1]

Finally, after several rounds of hearings, on 19 February 2023, the Bangladesh Press Council dismissed the appeal and announced the closure of the newspaper. The magazine has since been out of print. ^[1]^[5]

Sections of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) staged a protest rally on February 20 to protest against the banning of publication of Dainik Dinkal . Besides, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir strongly condemned the closure of the newspaper in a statement.