Top newspaper editors express concern over DSA to EU team

Journalists expressed their concern over the Digital Security Act (DSA) to the visiting Election Exploratory Mission of the European Union during an hour-long meeting at the EU's Gulshan 2 office on Monday.

After the meeting with journalists, the delegation sat with a five-member civil society group, including media experts, social activists, and NGO personalities.

"They did not specifically ask about DSA at first. They asked us about press freedom in Bangladesh. Whether we are able to maintain our professional duties or not," Daily Observer Editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said after the meeting.

"We told them about our recommendations on DSA that we sent to the government and that we are a united voice regardless of our differences when it comes to press freedom or DSA," he added.

"The law minister said reforms to the DSA will be made by September. We want to see our recommendations in that reform," Iqbal Sobhan further said.

"We also told them that the media will play a role in ensuring a fair election," he added.

"Another thing we told them about the media is that there are limitations, there are restrictions, but our media have an inherent fighting spirit. The mainstream media strictly uphold the values of democracy and fundamental rights. Despite limitations, the media has been fighting against wrongdoings and corruptions in the society," he added.

He said if the EU decides, they can send observers around two months before the election, which will give them a long presence until the whole election process is completed.

During the meeting, Nurul Kabir urged the EU team to submit a report that would be satisfactory to the people of Bangladesh.

"We said we appreciate them coming over to ensure a fair election in Bangladesh. It is also sad because we never need to go to Brussels to ensure a fair election," he added.

"This is our fight, and we have to do it ourselves," Nurul Kabir said.

Alongside Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, The Business Standard Editor Inam Ahmed, New Age Editor Nurul Kabir and Head of Prothom Alo's English Web Ayesha Kabir attended the meeting with the EU team that started at 10:30am.

The EU's six-member Election Exploratory Mission arrived in Dhaka on 9 July to survey the atmosphere ahead of the next national election.

The delegation, which will be visiting Bangladesh till 23 July.

The mission's objective is to assess the "advisability, usefulness and feasibility" of a possible EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka.

Media laws need to be relaxed

The EU team had another meeting at 2:30pm on Monday with a group of senior journalists.

Media related laws need to be relaxed to allow journalists to freely cover polls-time events, the diplomatic correspondents told the EU team.

Masud Karim, chief reporter of Daily Jugantor, said, "We told them that we [journalists] are fairly organised in Dhaka city. That's why there are not many problems. But there are problems in remote areas.

"We spoke about the obstacles faced by our media personnel, political parties or other stakeholders in terms of safety and security."

He said, "[For us to be able] to cover freely on election day, we need unrestricted internet, live telecast facilities, and laws should be more relaxed. For example, there is some self-censorship because of the Digital Security Act. I think work needs to be done in those areas.

"We also told them that apparently the media is free, but there are problems and challenges. But we will try to present the right picture to our audiences during the next polls."

He also said the EU mission is welcome to observe the election.

Meeting with civil society members

The EU delegation's meeting with civil society members was held at 4pm.

One of the attendees at the meeting, Zahed Ur Rahman, a social activist, told media that the EU mission enquired if there is any possibility of conflict regarding the next general polls.

"I said a confrontational situation has emerged in the country. The two major parties have not been able to reach a decision over the polls-time government, creating a risk."

"I said the recent amendments of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) are not in favour of the election commission. Even if the law and the constitution decide it all, the commission cannot work properly under a party government."

Mir Masrur Zaman, a media expert, told The Business Standard, "There is a peaceful situation in the country at the moment, so I am of the opinion that the EU can easily send observers."

On the same day, advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, Bangladesh Jatio Hindu Mohajote also met with the delegation.

At the end of the day, the EU delegates met with a number of diplomats at the house of EU envoy Charles Whiteley.

The meeting was held from 5:30pm to 6:50pm where the ambassadors and diplomats from various countries including Spain, France, Switzerland, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark were present.