Of the daily, monthly and weekly papers in the country, there are several papers belonging to the Islamist section and most are monthly or bi-monthly published from Dhaka and Chattogram.
The papers mainly focus on their own political ideology rather than historical elements. A few papers of the month of December showed that the issue of the country’s momentous occasion of victory has mostly been ignored.
The one or two articles that were published on Victory Day appeared perfunctory and slipshod.
However, these papers are often vocal about problems in Pakistan or India. Some religion based political parties and Qawmi madrasas are linked to the publication of these papers and magazines.
Monthly Rahmani Paigam is being published from Jamia Rahmania Aarabia madrasa in the capital for the last 25 years.
The founder of the paper is late Shaikhul Hadis Azizul Huq. The December issue of the magazine has three main articles: one about unrest in Pakistan, another on bribe and the other on the verdict on Babri Mosque in India.
Assistant editor of the paper Ehsanul Huq, said: “Usually, articles about development get priority.”
“Our biggest failure is that we could not write a united history of the war, irrespective of political allegiance; when government changes, the history changes with it.”
Kishorekantha is a teenage magazine which is being published from 14 February, 1984. Published under the supervision of Chhatra Shibir, this had been playing a role in getting new members for Chhatra Shibir for a long time.
In the current issue, the main essay is ‘you will develop a livable world’ mentions Dec 16 as the day Bengalis emerged as a valiant nation. The article pays respect to freedom fighters but never mentions the enemy.
Executive editor of Kishore Kantha, Md Rajiful Hassan, observes: “Through this issue, we wanted to relate to the young that Victory Day is our greatest achievement.”
The most widely publicized Islamic paper is monthly Medina and the December issue talks about Islamic laws and regulations.
Though no article on the liberation was printed in the paper, the editorial rebukes several activities of Qawmi scholars in recent times.
Several papers published from Chattogram do not mention the Victory Day either.
Former chairman of Urdu at Dhaka University, Mowlana Golam Rabbani, says: “As far as I know, monthly magazines cover Victory Day but most concentrate on religious norms, dictums.”
Deputy Director of Film and Publication Department, Tajkia Akbari, said: “We monitor the papers during registration but I will talk to the superiors on the matter.”