Jatiya Press Club () is the professional club for journalists of Bangladesh located in Segunbaghicha,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

History

The Jatiya Press Club was founded in 1954 as the East Pakistan Press Club. It was formed to be run by an elected committee guided by its rules and regulations. The Government of East Pakistan rented out a building at 18, Topkhana Road,

Segunbagicha Segunbagicha () is an upscale Residential area, residential, administrative, commercial, and institutional neighbourhood in south-central Dhaka, Bangladesh. The neighbourhood is an important area of Dhaka featuring a large number of government an ...

at a monthly rent of Tk 100 to be used as the press club headquarters. The building before 1947 was a residential house of

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 ...

and was once residence to physicist

Satyendra Nath Bose Satyendra Nath Bose (; 1 January 1894 – 4 February 1974) was an Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statist ...

. The first life member of the club was N. M. Khan who was chief secretary of the provincial government.

Mujibur Rahman Khan Mujibur Rahman Khan (23 October 1910 – 5 October 1984) was a Bangladeshi journalist, litterateur and politician. Education and career Khan passed the Entrance examination from Anjuman High School in 1928 and Bachelor of Arts in 1934 from A ...

was the first president of the club. On 25 March Pakistan army started

Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was a military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the operation on the basis of ant ...

and shelled the club, the structure was completely destroyed. After the Independence of Bangladesh it was named the National Press Club. In 1977 the building was leased to the club permanently and the government of Bangladesh covered the expense of a new building. In 1995 the club's logo and emblem were selected. From 2018 to 2020, Saiful Alam was the President and the general secretary was Farida Yasmin, the first woman general secretary of the Jatiya Press club. Farida Yasmin was elected president in 2020, the first woman president of the Jatiya Press Club, and Elias Khan was elected general secretary. Farida Yasmin was re-elected president of the Jatiya Press Club and Shyamal Dutta was elected general secretary. After the fall of the

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

-led

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

government, the office of the president and general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club was vandalised and forcefully occupied after Abdul Hannan Masud of the quota movement demanded their resignation and banning Awami League-supporting journalists from the profession. The office of

Shyamal Dutta Shyamal Dutta is a Bangladeshi journalist and editor of Bhorer Kagoj. He was the former general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club, the national press club of Bangladesh. He was the vice-chairman of Bangladesh Film Censor Board. He was also a memb ...

of the Jatiya Press Club, National Press Club of Bangladesh, was vandalised, and he was prevented from leaving Bangladesh. On 12 August 2024, A section of Jatiya Press Club's managing committee revoked the memberships of its president, Farida Yasmin, general secretary, Shyamal Dutta and managing committee member, Shahnaj Siddiqui Soma.

Structure

The Jatiya Press Club offers journalists three kinds of membership, first is life membership, second is permanent membership for professional journalists and the third is associate membership for public relations personnel. Associate members do not get voting rights. The National Press Club currently has about 800 members. The press club is managed by a 17-member executive council.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1954 establishments in East Bengal Clubs and societies in Bangladesh Press clubs Organisations based in Dhaka Bangladeshi journalism organisations Segunbagicha