It looks to me like the media outlets in Bangladesh are out for blood. The 668 BDR mutineers have been hauled up in front of a three member special court. All eyes are on 59 year old BDR Subedar Major Gofran Mallick are the leader of the conspiracy and the consequent bloody mutiny that stained […]
The High Court declared today that the provocative Crossfire Exhibition must be allowed to reopen. Eight days after the politically charged exhibition was shut down by the police deployed to the Drik Gallery, the High Curts decision now compels the police to withdraw, thereby removing all obstruction to the conduct and proceedings of the exhibition. […]
The upcoming War Crimes trial is playing out domestically in expected and unexpected ways. It was altogether expected that the BNP would try to despoil the proceedings by alleging partisan motives–members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a member of the previous ruling BNP coalition, stand to be accused of war crimes. Moreover, it was expected that […]
The BNP has begun to stake a claim that it will overthrow the current government using country-wide mass protests. The Daily Star reports her as saying: “I will wage a movement and oust the government. I have done it in the past and am ready to take to the street again.” The last time she […]
The Home Minister of Bangladesh, Sahara Khatun argued that there is no legal statute of limitations or moral force that prevents arresting those individuals considered war criminals. At a ceremony held at a college, Sahara Khatun claimed “They must be arrested… there is no need to issue new directives from the home ministry in this regard.” […]
I’d written earlier that the government of Bangladesh is doing a commendable job on the big, ‘macro’ issues. To that list of issues, I’d add the prosecution of the so-called war-criminals, who murdered and rampaged along the city and country-side, most prominently on this day, March 25, in 1971. That night has been consecrated in […]
The Law Minister, Shafiq Ahmed has claimed that the government will seek to amend the law that created the Anti-Corruption Commission, so that it may finallly be neutral and independent. Rather, the real story is: Reacting quickly to the dropped charges brought against her by the Anti-Corruption Commision–an organization that is thought to have […]
The Times recently published an Associated Press piece on the Rohingya, the Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar who are seeking refugee status in Bangladesh. As the AP piece emphasizes so heart-breakingly, succinctly, as ” Muslims, they were unwanted in Buddhist Myanmar. As foreigners, they are unwanted in Muslim Bangladesh.” The government seems to be capable of […]
The government’s actions in shutting down the Drik Gallery show on the Rapid Action Battalion’s Crossfire killings was provocative. I’m quite certain, though that the move was not meant to provoke student protests and legal action against the sitting government. Indeed, the New York Times Len’s blog, where the news of the photographic exhibition was […]
It seems the Bangladesh government’s favorite token move to censor media is to claim the property right holder or distributor does not possess the legal title to provide that particular service. In November 2009, the government shut down a 24 hour news channel on the grounds that the owners did not possess the proper documents […]
The government of Bangladesh shut down the Dhaka based Drik Gallery show on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). I’d written about the show last week, though I failed to mention–I thought it unnecessary at the time–that this was a righteous show to come along at this, the right moment when greater emphasis on democracy and […]
Though the second largest economy in Asia, next to Japan, China is the largest investor in teh Bangladeshi economy. Since 2003 it has far outstripped any other country’s investment. The Bangladeshi delegation in China needs to pay attention to that fact and maintain that relationship through gentle coaxing and courting, though to strident ears that […]
There are two ways to look at Bangladesh’s approach to friendlier relations on equal terms with China. One is to look at the terms of the relationship and say that friendlier relations is hardly in the cards; rather the relationship is one of mere exploitation at the cost of solid footing elsewhere. The other is […]
Bangladesh has been buying stuff from China and China has been happy selling stuff to Bangladesh, without much concern for doing some shopping of its own. That is now about to change. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina currently in the middle of a five day visit to China carried with her great hope that China would […]
The sitting government is making swift and sound moves to shore up the country’s infrastructure. It now seems like the government has been able to attract private foreign investment to help pay for the infrastructure construction. The Communications Minister, Syed Abul Hossain has communicated to his fellow parliamentarians that up to nine foreign firms […]