DHAKA, Aug 31, 2022 (BSS) - Sharply criticizing a comment of BNP, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia, secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its other leaders need to learn etiquette.
 
 “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told something yesterday (Tuesday) over sending Begum Zia abroad. In this context, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has raised questions of etiquette. I would like to ask Mirza Fakhrul what type of decorum it was to keep the country’s premier waiting in front of Begum Khaleda Zia’s door after the death of her son Arafat Rahman Koko. And they didn’t open the door for 20 minutes,” he said.
 
“What kind of manners was it when the premier of the country had invited Begum Zia at Ganabhaban for dialogue?” he posed this question, joining a discussion and doa mahfil organized by Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) marking the National Mourning Day and August 21 at an auditorium of Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
 
 Hasan said Begum Khaleda Zia had said in parliament – “who will go to kill her (the then opposition leader and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina)? Rather she brought the grenades in her vanity bag.”  “What type of political manner it was?” he asked.
 
The minister said, “Don’t teach us etiquette. You (BNP leaders) and your leader (Begum Zia) need to learn political manners.”
 
He said Bangabandhu’s daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has shown her unprecedented generosity to Begum Khaleda Zia. And the BNP would have never shown this type of generosity if they were in power, he added.
 
He said very often BNP leaders make outcries for sending Begum Zia abroad for her treatment. But later, Begum Zia becomes well and goes home in good health, he added.
 
“My leader taught me manners and I have learned decorum from my family also. But when anyone’s life is in danger, is it possible for her to go to hospital taking makeup? Mirza Fakhrul should answer,” said Hasan, also Awami League joint general secretary.”
 
He said Ziaur Rahman was one of the main kingpins of Bangabandhu assassination and his wife Begum Khaleda Zia and son Tarique Rahman were the main masterminds of August 21 grenade attack. So, both of the killings are sewed in one thread, he added.
 
About the amendment to the Press Council Act, Hasan said every member of the council is journalist and the proposal for amending the act is coming from it (Press Council). Even, the persons who are talking on this issue had also signed the amendment proposal, he added.
 
He said the amendment only increases the power of the Press Council to impose fines, nothing else. There is no limitation to imposing fine by the England Press Council, he added.
 
The minister said the provision of imposing fine of only Taka five lakh is kept in the amendment which is not like England or even India. And there is no scope of creating confusion over the issue, he added.
 
He said that his ministry didn’t do it. The newspapers owners, journalists and representatives of journalist organizations will do it, he added
 
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) president Omar Faruque, Journalists Welfare Trust managing director Subhash Chanda Badal, JPC president Farida Yesmin, BFUJ former president Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, former secretary general Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, DUJ former general secretary Azizul Islam Bhuiyan, DUJ former president Quddus Affrad and DUJ joint general secretary Khairul Alam, among others, addressed the  discussion.