Govt believes in full press freedom: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government firmly believes in freedom of press and urged the journalists to play a constructive and responsible role that will facilitate the development of the country.

“The government firmly believes in freedom of press, but no one should use the press like a child,” the premier said on Wednesday while distributing assistance among journalists from Bangladesh Journalists’ Welfare Trust at a function at her office.

Regarding the criticism against her on different issues, PM Sheikh Hasina she cares little about who writes what against her.

“I think little about who writes in favour of me and who writes against me. What I always think is whether I’ve the confidence while I go for doing any work and whether I made the right decision. I walk with my own confidence,” she said.

A total of 113 journalists suffering from health issues and financially insolvency, alongside family members of the journalists who have died in different incidents were given the financial assistance by the Prime Minister.

Chaired by Information Minister and Chairman of the Trust Hasanul Haq Inu, the function was addressed, among others, by PM’s Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, State Minister for Information Tarana Halim and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on information Ministry AKM Rahmatullah, President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Molla Jalal and secretary general Shaban Mahmud, President of haka Union of Journalists (DUJ) Abu Jafar Surjo and General Sectary Sohel Haider Chowdhury, Information Secretary Abdul Malek and PIB Director General Shah Alamgir.