Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon today said Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman had freed media removing all barriers to it.

He said if Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman had not been born, the question would remain in history whether the media would have been able to be brought out of the dark alley into the open sky, in which the country's media had entered in 1975 through the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and the black law of June 16 to abolish newspapers.

"The media of Bangladesh should remember Shaheed Ziaur Rahman with respect for ages, because he worked as the main patron of independent media," he said.

The information minister made the remarks while speaking as a special speaker at a discussion titled 'Mass Media and Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman' organised at Jatiya Press Club here marking the martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman.

BNP Secretary General and Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addressed the meeting as the chief guest with Jatiya Press Club President Hasan Hafiz in the chair.
Jatiya Press Club General Secretary Ayub Bhuiyan moderated it.

Recalling the historic leadership of Shaheed Zia, Swapon said on March 25, 1971, at 2 am, a 36-year-old Bangali major declared independence against an established military power without any instructions or provocation. 

Relying only on his own honesty, values, consciousness and patriotism, Ziaur Rahman appeared before the cantonment and the country’s people as a man of solution in times of crisis, he said.

The information minister said those who are aware of history know that if he had not declared war on that night of March 25, the nation would have been directionless. 

“Similarly, if the soldiers-people had not freed him from captivity on November 7, there would have been no peace in the country,” he said.

Swapon said despite being a military officer, Ziaur Rahman's mentality and attitude proved that he was a great statesman.

"The way he digested the disrespectful behaviour towards him at Dhaka University like a statesman and paved the way for all the different opinions of the country to criticise based on democratic values ??is unprecedented," he said.

The minister further said Shahid Zia brought the deprived political parties into the political arena and gave a chance for constructive debate. 

He said Shaheed Zia broke all the barriers of the Fourth Amendment and gave a new life to the buried parliament. 
Respecting different opinions and determining the pace of development through multidimensional thinking were his statesmanlike characteristics, Swapon said.

Highlighting Shahid Zia's view on the media, he said no leader in the world can be a popular statesman unless he practices the right approach towards the media. 

He said Shahid Zia not only provided the media with infrastructural or financial facilities, but also ensured that freedom so that the media could work as a clean mirror of the state and society.

“Because of his contribution, today society and the state are constantly reflected in the eyes of the people,” the minister said.

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Secretary General Quader Gani Chowdhury, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) President Shahidul Islam and Daily Jugantor Editor poet Abdul Hye  Sikder also spoke at the event, among others.