Dhaka, March 11, 2026

Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan said that the main goal of the current elected government is to give a strong institutional form to the achieved democratic and constitutional system. He also said that the media has to play a strong role to institutionalize this culture of parliamentary and constitutional politics. He said these things at an iftar party organized by Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at the National Press Club premises on Wednesday afternoon. Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir spoke as the chief guest at the iftar ceremony. Minister of Social Welfare spoke as a special guest. Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Yasser Khan Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar. In the event, Information Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan said, ‘Mass media is the collective attention of a nation. From the great language movement to the autonomy movement of the 1969s, the great liberation war and the anti-dictatorship movement of the 1990s—the media played a strong role in each case. It was because of that role of the media that the public consciousness of ‘I want Bangla as the national language’ was created among the people of that time.

He also said, “When one-party rule was established in independent Bangladesh, the media has once again created that mentality among people.” It was in that continuity that martyred President Ziaur Rahman was able to resume the practice of multi-party democracy through the second parliamentary election in Bangladesh. And when the autocracy took over the voting rights of the people in 1990, the media created all the atmosphere of the struggle under the leadership of the national leader Begum Khaleda Zia. Highlighting the context of the past decade and a half, Zahir Uddin Swapan said, “After a long struggle against the fascist regime and the lives of the students in the July revolution, we were able to win the freest election in history on February 12. In each of these phases, the mass media created the context of the mainstream of the people. Today, everything is going on constitutionally because the media has played a strong role. Regarding the current political context, he said, ‘The main challenge before us now is to continue this achieved democracy, voting rights and constitutional system. Under the leadership of Parliament Leader Tariq Rahman and the current elected government, we must make this achievement permanent. We have to be vigilant so that no institutional form allows any dictatorship in the future.’ State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Yaser Khan Chowdhury said in the speech of the special guest, “The current government under the leadership of Prime Minister Tariq Rahman believes in full freedom of the press.” The environment in which the media is working independently since the formation of the government will continue in the future.

President of Dhaka Journalist Union (DUJ). Under the chairmanship of Shahidul Islam and moderated by General Secretary Khurshid Alam, BFUJ President Obaidur Rahman Shaheen, General Secretary Quader Gani Chowdhury also spoke at the event. Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Abu Abdullah M Saleh and Additional Press Secretary Atiqur Rahman Rumon, National Press Club President Hasan Hafiz, General Secretary Ayub Bhuiyan, Former President Kamal Uddin Sabuj, Former General Secretary Syed Abdal Ahmed and former DUJ President Jugantar Editor Kabi Abdul Hai Shikdar, DUJ Joint Secretary Didarul Alam Didar and Organizing Secretary Saeed Khan, WSN24 Editor in chief and daily business file advisor Khan Muhomod Jusfiqur Rahman and Business File editor Avi Chowdhury along with various levels of journalist leaders were present.