December 28, 2018
Wintry mist from a non-level playing field!
If almost every past election in Bangladesh had been a test case for democracy, the one the nation is going to in two days' time is a veritable litmus test for the country's democratic future.
December 7, 2018
Nomination cauldron bubbling away, electioneering heat awaited
It was for the BNP leaders “a strategy” of filing multiple sets of nomination papers to cover the contingency of rejections. This came in the way of 141 party nominees out of 696 who had applied to the EC for a go-ahead.
December 1, 2018
Annisul Huq: A potential unfulfilled
Annis had embarked upon his first wave of infrastructural improvements. A childhood friend of his calls him seeking his help for a cancer patient, the mother of an army officer.
November 23, 2018
Feeling the pulse of the people
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, one of the founders of Awami Muslim League (now Awami League), chief minister of undivided Bengal, former prime minister of Pakistan and one in our pantheon of “National Leaders” was once quoted as saying, “Bad election is better than no election.
November 16, 2018
Quantum of disarray
What with difficult-to-deal-with Mr Trump on one side and “revanchist” Mr Putin on the other, the world seems to be in a turbulent place right now. It appears others in the world arena are also queuing up to join this disarray to make matters worse for years to come.
November 2, 2018
A world in turmoil
We show two traits when caught up in a political impasse before a general election and in responding to the government's offer of a dialogue when it comes to the opposition.
October 26, 2018
Japan's soft power - A Midas touch in waiting!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had kept up his sleeves a unique treat for his guest, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his visit to Tel Aviv in May of the current year.
October 12, 2018
Of dissent and critique
Getting rid of a high-profile dissenter of any powerful government is almost invariably “surrounded by mysterious circumstances.” The reported murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Riyadh government, last week inside his own country's consulate in Istanbul is no exception.
October 5, 2018
Digital Security Act - For trust-based pragmatism
Democracy and free press are inseparable concepts, so the renewed fervour we notice to the “debate” over the mutually complementary issues should be welcomed.
September 28, 2018
Our women migrant workers must be protected
Try as we might to reconcile the two trends in Bangladesh's development story, one consistently positive and the other indicative of a lack of distributive justice, we may fail to make the pieces of the puzzle fit, and therefore, marvel at it as a “miracle” development.