Dhaka: The Dainik Dinkal, a Bengali-language broadsheet and the mouthpiece of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has halted production after a government suspension order was upheld by a watchdog, stoking fears about media freedom in the country. It has been in circulation for more than three decades. It employs hundreds of journalists and press workers.
The daily covers news stories including the frequent arrests of BNP members and what the party says are thousands of fake cases against its supporters.
The newspaper on Monday said the Dhaka district authorities had ordered the shutdown on December 26, but it continued to publish after filing an appeal at the Press Council headed by a top high court judge.
“The council rejected our appeal yesterday [on Sunday], upholding the district magistrate’s order to stop our publication,” said Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, managing editor of the newspaper.
The order said the printing permit of the newspaper was cancelled after it violated the country’s printing and publication laws. The council said the paper’s publisher, Tarique Rahman – the acting chief of BNP – was a convicted criminal and was living abroad without handing over his job to another person.
Biswas said Rahman, now based in London, submitted his resignation and appointed a new publisher, but the authorities did not accept the changes. “This shutdown is all part of the government crackdown on dissenting voices and freedom of speech,” Biswas said.