Quader suggests media to be patient

Obaidul Quader, Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, today urged the country's journalists to be patient and play a responsible role in the crisis involving journalist Rozina Islam. He made the call from his official residence here, where he was participating in a videoconference discussion.

The discussion was organized by the AL's Relief and Social Welfare Sub-Committee at the party's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue to commemorate AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Homecoming  Day.

Quader, also AL general secretary, said: “Our statement is that as a case has been filed to this end, the matter is now under trial. If the concerned journalist is innocent, she will get justice.”

“I urge the journalist friends to keep patience and play a responsible role so that no instability and dissatisfaction is created in the minds of the people over this issue amid the second wave of coronavirus,” he said.

Quader believes that such misunderstandings would not have occurred if anyone from the ministry had briefed journalists on the day of the incident.

He reiterated that Sheikh Hasina's government believes in freedom of speech and that there is no pressure on the media at the moment, though reports on different topics, such as corruption and crime, are published in the country's media.

The AL general secretary said that the media serves as a diligent watchdog in promoting democracy, upholding the spirit of the Liberation War, and constructing a non-communal Bangladesh.

The claim that the government is cracking down on the media for publishing graft-related stories is false, he said, adding that the government's stance on corruption and bureaucracy is crystal clear.

According to Quader, it was learned from the health minister's assertion that the concerned reporter entered the personal secretary of the ministry secretary's room in his absence, concealed important documents and notes, and photographed them on her computer.

According to the Official Secrecy Act 1923, he said, such confidential matters could not be made public.

The road transport minister said there are specific procedures under the Right to Information Act to collect information and journalists can apply the law to gather information following these procedures. “There was no need to collect information secretly (in this way). The Health Ministry formed a three-member body in this regard,” he added.