July 16, 1972

Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today assures that his government would not curb the freedom of the press provided the press sticks to its ethics and act responsibly keeping in view the national interest. Inaugurating the Annual General Meeting of the Dhaka Union of Journalists at the Jatiya Press Club, Bangabandhu says as a democracy, one of the four state principles, presupposes adherence to a set of principles so the press is supposed to follow a set of principles. He asserts that press in Bangladesh enjoys maximum freedom because the government believes in democracy and the freedom of speech. Nobody can justifiably say that his government has interfered in the affairs of the press. He urges the press to shun the tendency of blackmailing and says that this unhealthy practice was prevalent in the presses of Karachi and Rawalpindi during Pakistani regime.

At the meeting, Gias Uddin Ahmed, outgoing president of Dhaka Union of Journalists, urges the government to set up a press council to address the problems faced by the press.

A letter from Indira Gandhi is delivered to Bangabandhu at the Gono Bhaban today by the Principal Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister PN Haksar who is now in Dhaka on a three-day visit. The content of the letter is not divulged. The Simla Summit and how it progressed must have figured prominently in the letter.

Bangabandhu says today, "I want to see that every citizen of Bangladesh plants a tree and maintains it to mark his cooperation to the development of the forest resources of the country and their participation in the tree plantation campaign." The prime minister addresses the inaugural ceremony of the tree plantation week launched throughout the country today. He also ceremoniously plants a seedling at the Suhrawardy Udyan.

SOURCES: July 17, 1972 issues of Bangladesh Observer, Dainik Bangla and Dainik Ittefaq.

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Freedom of press assured - The Daily Star