Hossen Sohel of DOT
Internet service providers, or ISPs, have announced that 58 websites, including news portals, are to be shut down, but the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has denied it, reports bdnews24.com.
International internet gateways and ISPs say they received the instruction on Sunday evening and began taking the sites down. Most of the 58 sites were unavailable on Monday morning.
Asked about the shutdowns, the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) General Secretary Emdadul Haque said:“We received the instructions from the BTRC.”
Asked about the order on Sunday night, said BTRC Acting Chairman Zahurul Haq:
“It is not possible to discuss the matter tonight. We may talk about it tomorrow. But as far as I know, there have been no orders to shut down websites.”
Relevant officials have not remarked on why the decision was made to close these sites 20 days ahead of the election or how these shut downs are being enforced.
The BTRC has previously shut down websites without explanation and made similar remarks about the decision.
On Jun 18 of this year, the BTRC ordered bdnews24.com to be shut down. It was restored a few hours later, but the BTRC acting chairman had not been able to provide a rationale for the decision.
The decision was taken ‘under instructions from senior government figures’, Zahurul Haq had said at the time. Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu had expressed his surprise at the comment and said the matter would be investigated.
Priyo dotcom, Dhaka Times 24, Paribartan, RisingBD, Bangla Mail 71 and other news portals were among the list of shutdowns.