Asking for banking information on journalist leaders uncalled for: Home minister

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the letters seeking the bank account details of top journalist leaders of several organisations were not to be expected.

The home minister conveyed the above in a Secretariat meeting with a delegation of current and former leaders of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), on Monday afternoon.

The delegation, led by DUJ President Quddus Afrad, expressed concern about the summoning of bank account details of journalist leaders.

At the meeting, the home minister said, "The events happened unexpectedly. I did not know, maybe the information minister did not know anything [either]. When I was informed about the issue, I immediately talked to the governor of the Bangladesh Bank. Like you, he also spoke of a letter. I am also looking at the origin of that letter. I think the letter was sent due to a misunderstanding. I personally think the letter should not have been given in this way."

"We want to look into the matter in detail and will take action after seeing how this could have happened," he added.

Home Minister Kamal said, "Of course, your reputation has been tarnished. You have suffered. I will make sure that it does not happen again in the future."

The minister said, "I have talked to everyone about this. Talks have been held with NSI, CID, SB, and Bangladesh Bank. I am going to Rooppur tomorrow (Tuesday). Returning from there, I will sit [with them] again. We will take care so that such an incident does not happen again. At the moment, I totally agree with you that the letter was not to be expected."

Among others, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, former information adviser to the prime minister and former president of BFUJ, Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, former president of BFUJ, Abul Kalam Azad, chief editor of BSS, Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan, former secretary-general of BFUJ, Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu, general secretary of DUJ, and Jannatul Ferdous Sohel, office secretary of DUJ, were present at the meeting.

It should be mentioned that at the meeting of the executive council of the DUJ on Friday, it was decided to hold discussions with the concerned ministers on Monday.