March 4, 2022
A citizen’s manifesto for Election Commission
In his first media briefing on February 28, 2022, the newly sworn-in Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal ticked almost all the right boxes.
February 15, 2022
The CEC Is Gone, Long Live the CEC!
Let me begin with the story of a thought experiment. I did this experiment with a concept known as perspective-taking.
February 6, 2022
How to read the Sinha murder verdict
For the government, the timing of the Sinha murder verdict on January 31 couldn’t have been worse, with increasing global scrutiny following a US sanction on RAB over allegations of human rights...
June 25, 2021
‘A polarised nation is a paralysed one, and we’re dangerously headed in that direction’
A lot has changed since the start of the pandemic. For many of us, it has come to instantiate the kind of epoch-making events that upend not just life but also perspectives, leaving a profound mark...
June 24, 2021
‘The state has always deemed universities hostile to its interests’
In your long illustrious career, you’ve written extensively on many issues, but I find your enduring interest in poverty, rights and justice fascinating. Has there been any personal motivation for...
May 28, 2021
The story of the middle class you’re never told
What is the picture that flashes through your mind when someone talks of social classes? A reader of The Guardian newspaper once made an interesting albeit highly generalised observation.
March 24, 2021
When faith is a weapon, don’t be surprised by who wields it
A dramatic turn of events since the March 17 attack on Hindu villagers in Sunamganj’s Shalla Upazila has been reshaping the narrative on the culpability of potential actors and, by extension, the...
February 22, 2021
‘Agartala case provided a spark for our dream of independence’
Amanullah is a former Director General of Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) and former Chief Editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).
January 24, 2021
‘Mass uprising was a dress rehearsal for our brightest achievements’
January 24 is observed as the Mass Uprising Day. On this day in 1969, young school student Matiur Rahman and a rickshaw puller were shot down by police on the streets of Dhaka, giving further...
January 14, 2021
What’s Eating Quader Mirza?
How well do you follow the headlines of your newspapers? If one were to run a quiz to see how well the readers of The Daily Star stack up against each other, the question that is most likely to be...