All segments of the society in Bangladesh should stand united against foreign media aggression aimed at maligning the country's image, speakers said at a roundtable in Dhaka yesterday.

Political consciousness to uphold the image of the country is the need of the hour. One can talk against the government but not against the state. Diplomats, journalists, educationists, politicians and others should voice against the media aggression, and the government should play a pro-active role, speakers at the meet said.

The roundtable on "Media Aggression Against Bangladesh" was organised by the Centre For Human Rights at the Sonargaon Hotel in the city. The speakers lauded the role of Bangladeshi media during "propaganda" by a "section of Western media" for their united stand against all image-bashing deliberate falsehood.

Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan was the chief guest at the function. Barrister Abdur Razzak, moderated the programme which was also addressed by the Chairman of the editorial board of the daily New Nation and the daily Ittefaq Barrister Mainul Hosein, Major General (Retd) MH Chowdhury, former State Minister Abul Hasan Chowdhury, Prof Moniruzzaman Miah, Prof Emazuddin Ahmed, Prof Dr. M Shamser Ali, Prof RK Mollah, Prof Dr. Ataur Rahman, Chairman of Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies (BIISS) MR Osmani, Principal Information Officer Khondker Monirul Alam, Attorney General AF Hasan Arif, Maj General (Retd) Sayed Md. Ibrahim, Maj. General (Retd) Ghulam Quader, Dr. Enamul Huq, columnist Sadek Khan, newspaper editors AZM Enayetullah Khan, Shafik Rehman, Mahfuz Anam, Amanullah Kabir, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, and Prof UAB Razia Akhter Banu.

Foreign Minister Morshed Khan said some of the foreign media published reports against Bangladesh. It was the responsibility of not only the government but also the society as a whole to resist such propaganda. He said, Bangladesh is a democratic country, not a moderate Muslim country. He called for upholding democracy at any cost and said that journalists of Bangladesh were enjoying utmost freedom in a democratic environment compared to any other densely populated third world country in the world. The Minister called upon the journalists to work for the state. Referring to various Western media reports Morshed Khan said, "We are against propaganda, not against journalism. But unfortunately, Bangladesh has become victim of propaganda in the name of journalism funded by a certain quarter."

Barrister Mainul Hosein said there was a concerted campaign both within and outside Bangladesh to keep Bangladesh under political pressure. "The religious attack is in fact political attack with a political motive against Muslims as a whole," he said adding that the anti-Bangladesh campaign by a section of the international press was part of this larger political campaign. So it has to be resisted by the press as well as through diplomacy. Foreign Ministry and Information Ministry have a vital role to play," he said. Barrister Hosein said, "what cannot be denied is that these foreign newspapers got help and cooperation from some of our people within the country. He suggested that our intelligence agencies have to deal with the situation more actively and effectively. " "The nation is not divided. Our politicians are divided and their politics is divisive. Some of them are too much intolerant that their divisive politics or politicization is creating divisions among public servants, journalists and some others in the higher echelon of society," he said adding, "We have to overcome such divisive politics consciously and deliberately."

Abul Hasan Chowdhury said the government should open the door and welcome European and US delegates to see whether camps of extremists were patronized here.

Attorney General Hasan Arif said despite having information-management problem, "we must provide the journalists with more information about actual situation" to avoid misunderstanding. Sadek Khan said Bangladesh should have a "defence mechanism" to guard against 'media aggression' that are part of a far-reaching strategy of external forces to weaken the country.

Prof Emajuddin Ahmed said, "Our neighbour is playing a destructive game with us though we want peace, not confrontation." Dhaka wants government-to-government relationships with the big neighbour, instead of government-to-particular-party ties.

Maj. General (rtd) Ghulam Quader observed that country's diplomats "are not pro-active at all." They need to be more active to enhance the image of the country. Maj. General (rtd) Syed M Ibrahim said that Bangladesh has two clear shades of opinion, which is not healthy and not in the national interest. He urged the government to equip journalists to expose all information so that they could use their conscience and develop a mechanism to combat propaganda.

Prof. UAB Razia Akhter Banu said when the government has brought changes to its foreign policy by looking to the east, whereas India unveiled its design to push 2 crore Bengali-speaking people in Bangladesh. She also advocated for a "second line of defence and a strong defence policy."

Enayetullah Khan said that the media aggression against Bangladesh was through not only newspapers but also Internet websites and some organizations.

Mahfuz Anam said all western media are not reporting in unison as we see BBC reported in one way while three other media reported in a different way. Reports of the second group of media can be termed "unethical journalism and misreporting," he said. He said the door of the country should be open for all foreign journalists, which will enable "good and bad" journalists to enter and look into what's happening in Bangladesh.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury said that we would have to protect our country's interest. Unfortunately, the parties urge us to be courageous when they are in the opposition but assuming power they urge us to be objective.

Shafiq Rehman presented a report of a Western media, TIME, published in its December 23 issue and castigated both Foreign and Information Ministries for not taking any action against the malicious report.

(Source: Daily New Nation)