New Age Editor Nurul Kabir has alleged that a segment within the interim government allowed the recent attacks on Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, and Chhayanaut offices.
He made the remarks at the 6th Broadcast Conference, organised by the Broadcast Journalists Centre (BJC) in the capital’s International Mother Language Institute on Saturday.
Kabir, who is also president of the Editors’ Council, said, “We clearly know that announcements were made one or two days in advance to destroy Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, and Chhayanaut.”
“Everyone in the country knows who made those announcements, and so does the government,” he added. “That is why we say some part of the government allowed this to happen. An organised force carried out the attacks, and among those arrested so far, clear political affiliations have been found.”
On 18 December, a group of agitated protesters torched, ransacked, and looted the Prothom Alo office in the capital’s Karwan Bazar, leaving large sections of the building gutted. A few hours later and a few streets away, The Daily Star Centre was also vandalised and torched.
The New Age editor himself fell victim to the mob near The Daily Star office. According to eyewitnesses, Nurul Kabir was dragged from his car and harassed by agitators before nearby army personnel rescued him. A video of the incident went viral on social media.
The incidents have been widely condemned as a “black day for the media,” with journalists and rights activists describing them as direct assaults on press freedom. The issue dominated discussions throughout the BJC conference.
