The Janamat editor, now on a two-week visit to his homeland, made this allegation while exchanging views with the journalists at a reception ceremony at a hotel in the port city yesterday.

Nawab alleged that unknown callers had been issuing threats accusing him of publishing 'defamatory' reports on Naser Rahman MP, son of Finance Minister Saifur Rahman, since he went to his village home at Moulavibazar a week ago.

Local police refused to record even a GD (general diary) entry he wanted to make and expressed their inability to ensure his round-the-clock safety while the local leaders of ruling BNP advised him to leave the country, he said.

"The GD could be registered once only after I talked to and had the police super make an order for it," Nawab said, "But the officer-in-charge of local police station called on me, asking for its withdrawal immediately after its entry."

He regretted that although he has been working as an editor of a Bangla weekly in a foreign land, he could not escape the threats and hazards the press was facing at home.

The Chittagong office of Janamat accorded the reception to Nawab Uddin. Monowara Hakim Ali presided over the ceremony.