THE untoward incident of chaos and anarchy in front of the office of the daily Prothom Alo is deeply concerning. As reported in ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on November 24, a group of individuals, some of them identifying themselves as ‘anti-India protesters,’ staged a sit-in programme in front of the Prothom Alo office and also tried to block the surrounding roads, including the road to the city’s largest kitchen market in Kawran Bazar. In the evening, when the protesters tried to slaughter a cow and prepare a meal blocking the entryway of the Prothom Alo and obstructing vehicular movement to the kitchen market, police charged batons and lobbed teargas and sound grenades, which left at least 10 protesters injured. A similar sit-in protest was attempted in front of the Daily Star office. On November 22, the protesters similarly demonstrated in front of the Daily Star office. They alleged that India was dominating Bangladesh in various ways, and the newspapers were working as ‘India’s agents.’ It is unfortunate that a 10-year-old boy was injured in the police action, but the protesters’ way of expressing their displeasure with the newspapers is also disconcerting. The protesters relied on physical intimidation, which amounts to an attempt at silencing an opinion that the group does not ideologically approve.
Ideological opposition to a foreign policy or an opinion against an unequal political-economic relationship with the government of a neighbouring country should be raised and debated, and it is all the more important at a time when democratic transformation is high on Bangladesh’s agenda. The protesters claimed to challenge the India appeasement policy that the deposed Awami League government had pursued and alleged that the Prothom Alo and the Daily Star have served the interest of India. However, taking the path of physical intimidation targeting particular media is rather worrying because, by doing so, the protesters appear to have resorted to somewhat similar authoritarian tools that the AL deployed to muzzle opinions critical of their policies. Instead of mobilising public opinion or relying on other civil means to discuss the many issues contributing to the unequal India-Bangladesh relationship, including unresolved transboundary river water sharing with India, the Indian Border Security Force’s unabated border killings, and numerous unfair economic agreements with India, especially in the energy sector, the protesters have created chaos and public nuances in front of the two newspaper offices. Such targeted intimidation of media is absolutely unacceptable, and the group involved in the said protest should give it a second thought.
It is, however, assuring that the government has taken early steps to protect the press, played a proactive role in containing the situation, and the law enforcers exercised relative restraint when dispersing the protesters. The group taking part in the protest denouncing the opinion of the two newspapers ought to reconsider their direct action strategies.