Allegations of obstruction at UPL outlet over sale of ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’
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Allegations have emerged that the sale of The Unfinished Memoirs, written by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was obstructed at the Banglabazar sales outlet of publishing house The University Press Limited (UPL). It has also been alleged that two employees of the sales outlet were taken away and handed over to police following the incident.
At around 5:30 pm on Monday, September 28, two young men went to the UPL sales outlet to buy The Unfinished Memoirs. The book was shown to them. At that point, they claimed that the book was “banned” and asked why it was being sold. At one stage, they started creating a disturbance and gathered people from the surrounding area. Later, two employees of the sales outlet were taken to a police outpost.
Matiur Rahman, officer in charge of Sutrapur Police Station, told Agamir Somoy, “Some people complained that The Unfinished Memoirs was being sold at the UPL sales outlet and brought two employees from there to the police outpost. After that, police spoke with both sides and released the two employees. Police did not detain anyone in this incident.”
Firoz Ahmed, director of UPL’s editorial department, told Agamir Somoy, “Some people claimed that The Unfinished Memoirs was a banned book and demanded that its distribution be stopped. Our sales employees were taken to a nearby police outpost. We informed those who raised the questions that the book is not banned. To ban any book a specific process has to be followed and everyone has to be informed. Certain legal steps also have to be taken. We are not aware of any such action having been taken in the case of this book. If the government or a court takes any such action UPL will act accordingly.”
Regarding The Unfinished Memoirs, he further said, “The Unfinished Memoirs is an extremely important book for us and for the history of Bangladesh. The book provides much of the necessary context for the creation of Bangladesh and the beginning of the Liberation War. UPL publishes each of its books with responsibility. If a responsible authority duly bans this book UPL will act in accordance with the law. However, as a publisher and particularly as an academic publisher we believe that interfering with the publication and distribution of any book that does not incite a criminal offense is harmful to the overall development of culture.”
Firoz Ahmed said, “In the previous government as well UPL protested from this professional position against decisions to shut down its stalls at book fairs over three books without banning them in accordance with the law. UPL’s position remains the same. In the interest of the development of the state and society it will be the responsibility of the government and all concerned not to interfere with the space for free thought and academic freedom.”
He said UPL would continue selling The Unfinished Memoirs until the book or any other book is lawfully banned by the appropriate authority. He said, “If an important means of knowledge and learning such as publishing remains under unlawful pressure or threats it will harm the country’s overall creativity. We hope that every sensible person and responsible person in the government will stand by us in this matter. But until it is banned, we cannot remove the book. This is our ethical position.”
Firoz Ahmed also claimed that UPL has faced pressure under various governments. He said, “We have faced some kind of pressure under almost every government. The government or various individuals and organizations have said that they have objections to one book or another. After the mass uprising there have been obstructions in some places over the sale of The Unfinished Memoirs. During the previous government UPL was asked to apologize at a Dhaka University Syndicate meeting for publishing a book. UPL is the publisher of all of Moudud Ahmed’s books. Many powerful individuals have pressured us at different times not to publish them.”
He further said, “But as a publisher UPL follows a specific standard. Our reviewers independently review every book and UPL publishes each book based on their assessments and opinions. Therefore, UPL does not remove any of its books because of pressure. As in the previous period advertisements for The Unfinished Memoirs are still regularly posted on UPL’s page. Because of this policy of professionalism UPL has suffered commercial losses in various ways but has never deviated from this fundamental standard of publishing.”
Firoz Ahmed also referred to the recent publication of a book on the history of Jamaat e Islami written by Barrister Rajzak. He said, “Our reviewers believed that this book contains extremely important material for the history of Bangladesh and it was on the basis of their opinion that we published the book. Whatever our individual political positions may be this is the principle of professionalism as a publisher. We believe that if we move away from this ethical position there is no meaning in being involved in the publishing industry. This is our official position regarding any book we publish.”
