Editors’ Council warns protests to continue if talks fail

Editors’ Council has postponed its human chain, scheduled for Saturday protesting against the passage of the Digital Security Bill, accepting information minister Hasanul Haq Inu’s request for talks on Sunday.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, council general secretary Mahfuz Anam said that the council expected that media-gagging sections of the bill would be scrapped following the discussion, or else, it would continue the protests.
The statement said that all the stakeholders, including the editors’ platform, thought that the passage of the Digital Security Bill was a serious blow to media freedom.
It said that the council had expressed its concerns to the government over the bill before its passage. Even during the parliamentary committee meetings, the council and other stakeholders made specific objections and registered protest against certain sections of the bill.
‘The way the government passed the bill by voice vote, ignoring all oppositions and objections, was considered regretful,’ the statement said.
‘On this backdrop, we had no alternative but to take to the streets,’ it added.
As part of the protests, the council had decided to form a human chain in front of the National Press Club on Saturday while different journalist organisations, including Dhaka Reporters Unity, also decided to stage similar protests, the statement said.
‘In this context, information minister Hasanul Haq Inu took the concerns of the Editors’ Council into his account and proposed talks with the council and other stakeholders on September 30 (Sunday),’ it said.
‘We welcome this proposal and have decided to postpone the human chain,’ it added.
‘We are always interested to solve a problem through discussions. In the past, we responded positively whenever the minister proposed any discussion, although it cannot be said that those discussions were fruitful,’ the statement said.
‘And this time, we hope the media-gagging sections of the bill will be scrapped following the discussion,’ it said.
‘But, if that does not happen, we have to continue our protests,’ it added.
‘We hope that the government will take initiatives to amend the bill, taking the concerns of all stakeholders of the media into consideration,’ the statement said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd,net