Bangladesh government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shut down the only newspaper of the main opposition party, on Monday (February 20). This comes after a government suspension order was upheld by a watchdog, reported AFP. The newspaper in question is the Dainik Dinkal, a Bengali-language broadsheet, employing hundreds of journalists and press workers and has been an important voice for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for more than three decades now. The unions and journalists also staged protests over the shutdown, on Monday, in the capital city, Dhaka.
A judge has upheld the order from the Bangladeshi government on Dainik Dinkal daily. The South Asian country is ranked behind Afghanistan on press freedom.
The Dainik Dinkal, a broadsheet Bangla daily, halted its publication yesterday, a day after Bangladesh Press Council rejected an appeal against the cancellation of the declaration of the pro-BNP newspaper by the Dhaka district administration.