Threat to a journalist

Golam Mortoza has been a fearless reporter, always vocal against injustices in society -- be it religious fundamentalism or minority repression or criminal underworld and its links with politics. His investigative reports and books on these issues have always been appreciated. Therefore, perhaps he need not worry. But then witnessing the fate of other similar journalists, mainly Manik Saha of Khulna, of late one would think twice before telling him not to take it seriously. Can the authorities protect him from these vicious groups? Can anyone actually ensure his safety? Probably not -- simply because none of the earlier cases of journalists' killing has been resolved to date.

We think that a routine investigation by the police should be enough to trace the caller and charge him. What's interesting is the Prime Minister's comments on the report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The PM on Wednesday categorically rejected the CPJ report where it had said that Bangladesh was the most violent country for journalists in Asia. The government claimed to have taken immediate actions to track down the offenders and bring charges against them. But we are yet to witness any of the criminals, in the sensational cases at least, has been punished. Therefore would it be too wrong to assume that even in the case of Golam Mortoza the offenders might not get caught? However, we would like to be proved wrong on it.

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