Journalists under attack from all fronts

The Business Standard journalist Miraz Hossain was passing the Midas Centre in Dhanmondi on Sunday morning. He was riding a bicycle to the office. In front of Midas Centre, some Jubo League activists were interrogating rickshaw pullers and passersby. 

Some local residents were taking videos of the interrogation from their roof. When they discovered what was going on, the activists started throwing stones at them. One stone was about to hit Miraz, so he sped up his bicycle to cross the area faster. But the Jubo League men chased him down and began interrogating him. 

Despite introducing himself as a journalist, the activists began assaulting him. They asked to see his mobile to check his Facebook activity. 

Miraz was saved by fellow journalists, including his TBS colleague Jahidul Islam. 

But after Miraz was rescued, Jahid himself came under attack in the same spot. The group that attacked Miraz started beating and kicking Jahid, demanding to check his phone. 

After Jahid took shelter on a nearby footpath, another group attacked him when a fellow journalist came to his aid. He was beaten one more time. And before he could get a rickshaw to leave the site, another group attacked him. 

"I was stabbed on my head at this point. I was almost losing sense when another colleague came to my rescue," Jahid said. "But I am still relieved that I could save my colleague from a dangerous fate." 

Jahid took treatment at a hospital where he required several stitches.

Ever since the quota reform protests turned violent in mid-July, journalists have been constantly under attack from the police, ruling party men and the protesters. 

At least four journalists lost their lives during the clashes and about 200 were injured. Around 35 of them were reportedly injured by shotgun shells, while about 67 of the injured are in critical condition. 

Khondokar Asifuzzaman, a staff correspondent at Barta 24 was in Rampura-Badda area on July 18. After taking a comment from a protester on the road beside Bangladesh Television station, some young people circled him when he came in front of the TV station. 

They started beating him. The man he previously interviewed came to his rescue. But despite that, the attacks continued until he fell down unconscious. 

"After I came to my senses, I realised I was in a hospital and one of my colleagues was holding my hand. The first question I asked him was, "am I alive?" Asifuzzaman told The Business Standard.  

Asif had to take medication in hospital for several days. 

The state of the affairs for journalists in Bangladesh has reached a point unmatched by any volatile situation in the past. There is no pattern to the types of attacks the journalists are facing. It's coming from everywhere. 

"It is such a time and such is the extent of unrest and tension that no one can guarantee who is attacking who," said Sam Jahan, a Staff Video Correspondent for Reuters News Agency and a trainer of journalists. 

"The stories that we work on are not more important than our lives. We often forget that safety comes first. Besides, our journalists don't have life and health insurance. Considering all this, we have to be careful and ensure our safety first while working in the field," Sam said. 

"Everyone doesn't have personal safety equipment, as many offices don't provide it. We have to make sure that at least we wear helmets to ensure the protection of our head… that we don't get sandwiched between the two conflicting groups," he added. 

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, said that the journalists don't only perform their professional responsibilities, but they are working in public interest, publishing information that is necessary, and they are playing the role of the Fourth Estate. 

"If the government is respectful to an accountable governance, it is their responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists in a sensitive moment like this. But we don't see them playing that role. Rather journalists are being treated as enemies," Iftekharuzzaman said.