Bangladeshis observed a day of national mourning on Saturday to remember the 117 people who died in Thursday’s blaze in Dhaka’s old town. With the national flag flying at half mast, Bangladeshis of all stripes and beliefs joined in prayer and commemoration, unified in quiet and mannered grief. Now is the time for searching and […]
After all the pretty words, is the Obama Administration actually willing to walk the talk with some concrete policy choices when it comes to India?
The Daily Star reports the following grim news: At least 87 people, mostly women and children, were burned alive and scores more wounded in a blaze in the densely-populated Old Dhaka last night. The death toll may rise sharply, as rescuers early today were pulling out bodies from eight houses and 20 shops that had […]
The BNP is using the government shut down of the daily newspaper Amar Desh to good affect. Using a calculated show of protest against recent government actions, the BNP delegation joined a budgeting session only to walk out to signal disfavor of the government’s actions against the newspaper. Amar Desh often joins with the BNP […]
The government of Bangladesh recently announced that along with making secondary and tertiary education free for students in public institutions, it will put together a trust to provide scholarship stipends for high achieving students. This move, directed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ensures Bangladesh’s future as an innovating economy and stabilizes its export market for in-demand labor […]
The government of Bangladesh has shut down another media outlet, the daily newspaper Amar Desh (My Country). Quite apart from the political consequences of this hard boiled move, there’s the normative cost that bears on censorship. In fact, as if on cue, the government, like its cousins in Pakistan, has recently shut down access to […]
If there was ever any doubt about Pakistan’s ability to survive as a country, the recent attacks in Lahore have once and for all settled the issue – Pakistan is a ticking time bomb with no way to unplug or stop the bomb from exploding. And, even with this tragedy, there are people in Pakistan […]
Jamaatul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the banned terrorist organization intended to recruit new recruits and followers by setting off a series of explosions in Dhaka, reports the Daily Star. “Current JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman alias Zafar, who was arrested by law enforcers on Tuesday, told detectives that his detained third wife Naima Akhter, and two other […]
The National Bureau of Asian Research has just published a collection of essays on the US-Japan Alliance entitled, A New Stage for the U.S.-Japan Alliance? The roster of contributors is impressive: Troubled Alliance Kenneth B. Pyle Return to Basics: Recalibrating the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance Michael Finnegan Redefining and Reaffirming the U.S.-Japan Alliance Michael J. Green […]
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was constituted in January 2009 as an attached office of the Planning Commission. The UID brand was renamed ‘Aadhaar’ meaning foundation in April 2010. The logo of ‘aadhaar’ (finger print within a rising sun) adopted after a nation wide contest, allegedly represents a new dawn of equal opportunity for […]
Yet again, Al Jazeera English has produced a piece on Bangladesh’s society that other international media outlets surely know about but have done little to highlight. The issue is child prostitution in Bangladesh, compounded by new reports that young girls are being coerced to ingest animal steroids in order to attract customers at a higher […]
Realizing full well the impact of remittance payments on the overall Bangladeshi economy, the sitting government has announced that it would rein in the ways and means of sending payments back home through back, underground channels. In a complementary move, the cabinet announced a new Expatriate Welfare bank that would provide loans to workers who wish […]
China recently announced that it had reached an agreement with Pakistan for the construction of two new nuclear reactors there. These reactors would be built at the Chasma site already designated for Chasma III and IV. The first two reactors were built by China after a 1985 agreement with Pakistan regarding the same. The setting […]
As tension mounts in the Korean peninsula in the wake of the Cheonan incident, it is worth taking stock of the various diplomatic options on the table. It is too early to predict what kind of pressure will be applied to the rogue regime for its belligerency this time around, but, importantly, a chorus of […]
In another bold and well-calculated move, the government of Bangladesh has reached out to yet another powerful country and has made of it another ally. This time, the government through Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and her aides have reached a five-year deal with their Russian counterparts to share peaceful nuclear technology, design and capability in order […]
