By Nava Thakuria*
Geneva/Dhaka: Following the killing of a Bangladeshi journalist on January 9, 2023, the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body, today called for an international convention over the matter of scribes’ murders.
“We have just passed a deadly year for working journalists with 116 casualties across the world. Ukraine has lost 34 media persons followed by Mexico (17), Haiti (8), Pakistan (6), Philippines (5), Colombia, India (4 each), Bangladesh, Israel/Palestine, Honduras, Yemen (3 each), etc in 2022,” Blaise Lempen, president of PEC, noted while calling for an international convention to discuss the matter of such murders.
Meanwhile, the new year brought sad news with the killing of a young Bangladeshi journalist, Ashiqul Islam (27), who worked for Dainik Paryabekhyan from Brahmanbaria locality (which is adjacent to India’s north-eastern State of Tripura). He was hacked to death on January 9, 2023, by a group of miscreants.
Ashiqul was returning home from attending an evening function when he was targeted by a group of assailants. The culprits left Ashiqul seriously injured. He was taken to a nearby hospital by onlookers but soon succumbed to wounds. The Bangladesh police have arrested at least one individual suspected of involvement with the murder and are investigating the motive of the killers.
PEC, while condemning the killing, has demanded a fair probe to book the culprits under the law. Lempen urged Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a high-level enquiry to investigate the motive of perpetrators.
Last year, Bangladesh lost journalists Hashibur Rahaman Rubel, Mohiuddin Sarker Nayeem and Abdul Bari to assailants. On the other hand, India witnessed the murder of Rohit Kumar Biswal, Sudhir Saini, Juned Khan Pathan and Subhash Kumar Mahato. Pakistan lost Sadaf Naeem, Arshad Sharif, Muhammad Younis, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hasnain Shah, Murtaza Shar and Athar Mateen in different incidents. Similarly, Myanmar lost photojournalist Aye Kyaw and reporter Pu Tui Dim to the relentless military atrocities in 2022.
*Senior journalist and PEC’s South Asia representative
