Monjurul Alam Panna, Journalist :
The journalists came under attack from the helmet-wearing terrorists while covering the protests by the students for safe roads. Many of us were sure that the attackers would not be tried. The ground for this certainty was not prepared in a day. The journalists routinely came under such attacks during the rule of every government and no punitive actions were taken.
The journalists always remain in a kind of unknown fear while discharging their professional duties. The international media outlets covered the incidents when the journalists came under assaults. But scenario of the local media is just the opposite. The reason behind such poor coverage does not need to be explained. Instead of arresting the assaulters on the journalists of home and abroad, the ruling party leaders were busy politicizing the issue. They said that the attackers belonged to Jamaat-Shibir.
The journalists claimed that the attackers belonged to the student front of the ruling party. But the General Secretary and other leaders of Awami League rejected the claim in unison. I do not want to claim that the attackers belonged to the youth front of the AL. The question now arises, why the attackers, what they claimed to be Jamaat-Shibir men, were not arrested in the last one month.
Photos of some of the attackers were circulated on social media and they were described as leaders of Chhatra Dal. Why the attackers were not arrested even after identifying them? The attackers swooped on the journalists under the nose of the law enforcers. The audacity of Chhatra Dal or Shibir and the nonchalance of the law enforcers really surprise us. The journalist leaders issued ultimatum to arrest the assaulters. However, the administration keeps mum. The helmet-wearing alien goons went to the Mars safely and stealthily.
Translated by Hossen Sohel