Police want Bangla Academy to scrutinise manuscripts before book publication

Bangladesh Police have requested the Bangla Academy to scrutinise the manuscripts before publications of books that could create an unstable environment and curb those.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) seek the policy to be implemented from the Amar Ekushey Granthamela-2026 (book fair).

DMP high officials said this after visiting the security arrangements centring the book fair at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka on Friday.

A journalist asked at the media conference whether the police have any initiative to avert untoward incidents that arose in the past regarding book contents?

Responding to this, DMP commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzat Ali said, “We had a coordination meeting where the Bangla Academy officials were also present. We requested them so that no books with instigating writings could hit the fair; they could scan and assess that. I hope they will carry out their duties properly.”

At that time, DMP additional commissioner SN Nazrul Islam, who was beside the DMP commissioner, said that they suggested the Bangla Academy make a policy so that the manuscripts of the books that would be published are submitted at the Academy first. “They would assess those to scrutinise so that books with no such contents that would disrupt our social life, communal harmony, and the government and contain seditious statements are published in the fair. We have made this request to the Bangla Academy.”

Nazrul Islam further stated, “We hope, we would be able to implement this through the Bangla Academy from the next year that manuscripts have to be submitted to them before publishing the books. Those will be published only if they nod.”

Responding to a question on whether there is any fear over the programmes of hartal (strike) and blockades of Awami League in February, Sazzat Ali said, “This is the world of media. The news of Dhaka city is travelling to Brazil in just a minute… So many programmes are being announced from different places. You all are observing that we are facing those programmes. Anyone could issue video messages and programmes. We have arrested many leaders of banned organisation, Chhatra League. We surely will take actions if they take any such attempts. But for now we don’t see any such apprehension.”

The police have intensified its surveillance activities on the freed terrorists centering the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.

The DMP commissioner did not provide any direct answer to a question on the fear of any terrorist attack on the fair.

Writer professor Humayun Azad was chopped while he was leaving the fair ground on 27 February 2004. After taking treatment for several months, he went to Germany in August that year for research. But his body was recovered from his flat in Munich on 12 August.

Later, on 26 February 2015, US expatriate writer Avijit Roy was killed in a terrorist attack near the TSC on Dhaka University as he was leaving the fair ground with his wife Rafida Ahmed. His wife lost a finger in the attack.

In 2023, a letter was sent to Bangla Academy director general poet Muhamad Nurul Huda with a bomb attack threat. However, the fair ended without any untoward incident.

Those who were arrested on charges of their involvement with the incidents are outside of jail now.

The DMP commissioner was asked whether he sees any apprehension regarding them. 

Sazzat Ali said, “We have kept under surveillance the people who have come out of the jail. We will keep a watch on the suspected people.”

News agency BSS adds: DMP Commissioner SM Sazzat Ali today stated that intensified security measures have been put in place on Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan premises to ensure the peaceful holding of the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair, set to begin Saturday.

“We have taken stringent security measures like previous years to ensure the peaceful holding of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair,” he told a press briefing after inspecting the security arrangements at the fair venue.

He said the DMP has also beefed up the security arrangement in and around the Dhaka University and its surrounding areas to make the security foolproof.

“Required police personnel have been deployed in the fair venue and its adjoining areas in large numbers to oversee the security arrangements,” he said.

The DMP chief said they have set up a control room to monitor the security arrangements round the clock.

He also said senior officers, especially deputy commissioner of Ramna division, will supervise the overall security arrangement on the fair ground.

“Apart from the police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and various intelligence agencies have been assigned to enforce security measures,” he said.

“The entire fair venue has been brought under CCTV surveillance,” he said, adding that sufficient lighting arrangements have been made at night to prevent any untoward incidents.

The DMP chief informed the media that plying of heavy vehicles inside the Dhaka University areas will be stopped throughout the month of February.

The road from Doyel Chattar to TSC is a very significant one and it will be opened or closed depending on the rush of the book lovers, he said.

Sazzat said that breast-feeding stations and lost-and-found centers have been set up at the fair venue.

If anything or any child is lost at the fair ground, the police will help to find it upon receiving a complaint, he said.

The DMP chief asked all concerned to look into the matter so that no hawker can create chaos by setting up their food courts on the fair venue and charge two or three times higher than that of the actual prices of the food items.

He asked the DMP traffic department to take necessary measures to ease the traffic movement during the book fair.