DACCA: Dr Mohammad Enamul Huq, an eminent educationist, yesterday [Jan 25] called upon the journalist community to rise above conflicting interests, personality clashes, party feuds and struggle for power so that a free Press could be established in the country.

Inaugurating the three-day annual general meeting of the East Pakistan Union of Journalists at the Press Club here, he said people never wanted the journalists to be guided by any interest or person.

The inaugural function was attended by, among others, Mr Asaduzzaman Khan, a former leader of the Opposition in the defunct Provincial Assembly; Mr Kabir Choudhury, Director, Bengali Academy; Mr S. G. M. Badruddin, Resident Editor, “Morning News” and Mr Mainul Husain, Editor, daily “Ittefaq”…

In his 20-minute speech Dr Enamul Huq traced how the Press had been gagged and controlled in different ages by different authorities. He said the freedom of Press, inseparably interlinked with a democratic society, was essentially dependant on the quantum of freedom of expression and civil liberties in a country. He said there cannot be any freedom of Press where there was no democracy. — Agency

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2020