Geneva, August 8: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights body, expressed shock over the murder of a journalist in the capital city of Bangladesh and urged the interim regime in Dhaka to nab the killers of Md Asaduzzaman Tuhin, who was hacked to death by some miscreants in Gazipur locality on 7 August evening. Tuhin (40), who was associated with Mymensingh-based Bengali newspaper Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, was targeted by the assailants as he was sitting in a tea stall of Chandana Chowrasta market. Wounded severely, Tuhin died on the spot and Dhaka police recovered his body to send for autopsy. The journalist reportedly recorded visuals from the market, where some extortionists were asking money from the local vendors and they fought among themselves. Tuhin was asked to stop recording, but when he did not respond they attacked him.
“It’s so pathetic that a journalist had to lose his life as he exposed the extortionists in the crowded capital city. Earlier on 25 June, another journalist named Khandaker Shah Alam was killed in Nabinagar locality of Dhaka by a released prisoner, who was understandably jailed because of Alam’s reporting in Dainik Matrijagat. Bangladesh is going for national elections by mid-February next year and the authority must ensure the safety and security of media persons across the south Asian nation. The current regime head Dr Muhammad Yunus has promised a favourable atmosphere for the media fraternity compared to the reign of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The freedom of journalists should be reflected on the ground,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (www.pressemblem.ch), adding that killers of both the scribes must be punished under the law.
PEC’s south & southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informs that besides Tuhin, another Dhaka-based journalist (Anwar Hossain Sourav) was physically assaulted by miscreants in Gazipur’s Sahapara area on the previous day. The young journalist of Dainik Bangladesher Alo is currently undergoing treatment in the hospital. Tuhin becomes second Bangladeshi journo-victims since 1 January this year and 95th media casualty across the world. Days back, radio journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia, was killed in the Philippines. India lost five media persons namely Mukesh Chandrakar, Raghavendra Vajpayee, Sahadev Dey, Dharmendra Singh Chauhan and Chintakayalu Naresh Kumar to assailants in the first half of 2025, followed by Pakistan with the murder of Allah Dino Shar, Abdul Latif Baloch and Syed Mohammed Shah, and Nepal with the killing of Suresh Rajak during the period.
(Nava Thakuria is a senior Indian journalist who contributes to various media outlets including print and digital platforms of India and across the world.)