Aasha Mehreen Amin and censorship at The Daily Star
Amin has been leading the pro-BNP censorship campaign
From a renowned Bengali professor of gender studies at an American liberal arts college to a columnist at the Dhaka Tribune, potential contributors to The Daily Star have received an email from Aasha Mehreen Amin telling them that their political opinions do not run in sync with the newspaper. The Daily Star has long branded itself as the pre-eminent voice of liberal Bangladesh; as a progressive newspaper; as a publication which imbues the “spirit of liberation” of 1971. But get this - Aasha Mehreen Amin, who is the Joint Editor in charge of Op-Eds, is the granddaughter of Nurul Amin, who was a key collaborator of the Pakistani army in 1971 and served as the last Bengali premier of Pakistan during the fag end of the Liberation War.
Former employees of The Daily Star have spoken out about the culture of self-censorship at the newspaper. It turns out that much of this censorship is directed at pro-Awami League voices, neutral voices, and anti-BNP voices. The censors at the newspaper are extremely pro-BNP and are censoring any views that may pose a potential challenge to the BNP leadership led by Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman.
The Daily Star is hysterically opposed to the Awami League government, as Sherlock Holmes discussed in a previous post. Sherlock Holmes is also in the possession of emails sent out to potential contributors who were denied a chance to have their views aired on The Daily Star simply because they were not pro-BNP.
As you can see from the email above, Amin uses the pretext of government censorship to reject a pro-Awami League Op-Ed. This is mindboggling behavior by The Daily Star. The newspaper is using the pretext of government censorship to deny the freedom of expression of Bangladeshis who do not support the BNP.
Ultimately, the sole objective of The Daily Star is to maintain the status quo two party system in Bangladesh. The Daily Star is actively obstructing any effort to change the two party system. The two party system failed because BNP spoiled the system. The Daily Star is aiding and abetting the survival of the BNP at any cost. This is ironical, considering it was The Daily Star which once argued that BNP was morally bankrupt.
Amin came off as an embarrassment during a Jaipur Lit Fest discussion involving Bangladesh. Should the granddaughter of Nurul Amin be entitled to lecture us about democracy, freedom and human rights? Amin’s record is one of censorship and obstruction.