Panchagarh Correspondent:
Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate of Panchagarh District Administration Md. Tahmidur Rahman has been accused of publicly abusing journalists who went to collect news about the Mahalaya of the Sanatan Dharma followers, calling them terrorists. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon on the banks of the Karatoya River in the Auliar Ghat area of Mareya Bamanhat Union in Boda Upazila of Panchagarh. Later, the district administration informed that the overall management and security of the Mahalaya has been withdrawn.
It is known that on September 25, 2022, a boat carrying more than a hundred passengers sank on the occasion of Mahalaya at the Auliar Ghat of the Karatoya River in the Mareya Bamanhat Union of Boda Upazila of Panchagarh. 71 people died in that terrible accident. On Sunday (September 21), 6-7 journalists went to collect news on the occasion of the three-year anniversary of the boat sinking and the Mahalaya ceremony at the Badeshwari Temple.
At that time, the Magistrate on duty at the Karatoya River Ghat, Md. Tahmidur Rahman stopped the journalists from crossing the river. At that time, three to four boats were plying the river and motorcycles were also crossing on the boats. But when the journalists wanted to get on the boat, he stopped them and said that motorcycles were not allowed. The journalists asked, “When others are crossing on motorcycles, why can’t we go to work on news?” He got angry and said to the journalists, “You are Al Jazeera, BBC Bangla or international journalists, and I don’t care who you are. You can’t go.” When the journalists recorded his behavior on camera, he said to the journalists in a more indecent manner a short while later, “You are terrorists.” The incident of insulting journalists in front of hundreds of people in this way has caused intense anger among local media workers.
Dhaka Post’s district correspondent Nur Hasan said, “When we went to collect news from Mahalaya, the magistrate prevented us from taking our motorcycles. The ghat was empty and other people were also seen crossing the ghat on motorcycles. The UNO himself was also crossing the ghat on motorcycles in a boat. So why was the journalists prevented from going?”
Banglavision Television journalist Mosharraf Hossain said, “The magistrate got angry after hearing our journalist identity and said, ‘Al Jazeera journalists, you can’t go.’ Why can’t we go when others can go? He asked us, ‘You are terrorists.’ You can’t abuse multiple journalists like this by calling them terrorists.”
Meanwhile, when Boda Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rabiul Islam reached the spot at the time of the incident, journalists informed him about the matter. He expressed regret over the incident. Deputy Commissioner Sabet Ali told reporters about the incident that the magistrate has been withdrawn from the overall activities of Aulia Ghat.