Press secretary admits mistake in cancelling press accreditation cards

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Thursday acknowledged that cancelling the accreditation cards of journalists to enter the secretariat was a mistake.

“Cancelling the accreditation card was a mistake. But can any journalist or organisation claim that journalists' entry into the secretariat has been blocked?” he said while addressing a discussion in Dhaka.

The discussion titled “Freedom of the Media: Reviewing the Legal Framework for Journalists’ Protection and Complaint Resolution” was organised by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) at the CIRDAP auditorium.

Mentioning that around 600 journalists have access to the secretariat, Shafiqul said, “They are working and we are not getting any complaints. However, the process has slowed down. Accreditation should be issued to journalists without any delay.”

He said the government formed a committee to issue press accreditation cards and the cards would be issued soon, as per its suggestion.

“The committee put forward recommendations and I believe that implementing those will help improve the situation,” the press secretary added.