President of the Editors’ Council of Bangladesh and New Age editor Nurul Kabir has alleged that either a section of the interim government or the government as a whole allowed the coordinated attacks and arson at the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star on the night of 18th December.

 

Speaking on a talk show last night, Kabir said, despite repeated calls and messages to senior advisers and government officials, authorities failed to act decisively to prevent the violence or ensure timely rescue operations.

 

Kabir described the incident as an attempt to “burn and kill in a medieval fashion” and said his own decision to rush to the scene was driven by a sense of duty to help coordinate rescue efforts. He said he was convinced that the incident could not have occurred without official failure at the highest level.

 

Echoing similar concerns, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam said the attacks were “murderous” in intent, citing videos in which assailants threatened to kill journalists. He said dozens of staff members were trapped on the rooftop as the mob blocked firefighters, turning the attack into a direct threat to journalists’ right to survive.

 

At a joint protest rally organised by the Editors’ Council and the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB), BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the violence was not just against two newspapers but an assault on democracy itself.

 

The coordinated arson and vandalism of two leading newspapers have been widely described as a black day for the country’s media, raising serious questions about press freedom, public safety and the state’s willingness or ability to protect democratic institutions.