A Blanket of Fear Was Spread over Society in the Past: Shafiqul Alam

A terrible and controlling blanket was spread over the entire social system in the past so that people would always live in fear, former interim government chief adviser's press secretary Shafiqul Alam has said.

He made the remarks on Saturday afternoon at a discussion titled 'Crisis of Freedom of Expression and the Democratic System', organised by Odhikar at the National Press Club.

Shafiqul Alam said that although various repressive tools such as the Cyber Security Act were used to suppress the publication of news, Hasina at that time failed to win the hearts of the people and society.

Referring to the amendment of the current cyber protection law and giving importance to journalists' various concerns, Shafiqul Alam said most of the concerns have already been addressed and close communication and discussion between the government and the journalist community are ongoing. However, he expressed deep concern over the arbitrariness of a class of non-state actors in the name of online freedom of expression.

Shafiqul Alam said that at present not only the government, but also various capitalists and influential people in society are misusing the core principles of freedom of expression. If ordinary citizens, journalists or members of civil society raise any irregularity, corruption or destruction of the environment, they are being targeted. Even incidents such as character assassination, false slander and spreading defamatory information are taking place, which is extremely dangerous, he said.

He further said that since 1972, ordinary people or those affected have never received proper remedy under the defamation law. Yet in the current online era, anyone can publish character assassination or defamatory information about any person at will, and it remains permanently, bringing lifelong suffering for the victim and their family.

Shafiqul Alam commented that strong measures also need to be taken against such anarchy, in line with international standards and the legal framework.