Ali Riaz

Politics have gone missing from Bangladesh. This may sound naïve, considering that the country had a national election less than two months ago and several elections are upcoming.

Shah Ahmed Shafi, head of the Hefazat-e-Islam (HI), is in the news again. In a sermon delivered to the parents of the Darul-Ulum

In the next 24 hours Bangladesh will have a national election. The question is what kind of an election will it be? It has already become unprecedented on many counts: the incumbent is seeking a third term, an election is being held under an incumbent government which is being participated in

With the 2018 election at our doorstep, various kinds of polarisation and reconfiguration of political forces are taking place. Among them, the role of Islamists has drawn substantial attention. Islamists have not enjoyed as much prominence in previous elections as they have in 2018.

The statement of the heads of the diplomatic missions of the European Union, Norway and Sweden in Dhaka on Monday calling to “ensure a genuine, credible, inclusive and transparent electoral process” in the upcoming parliamentary election warrants our attention.

As the much discussed “dialogue” between the prime minister and the 14-party alliance members on the one side and the opposition parties is proceeding, many are pondering whether the political situation has changed.

Barring any dramatic shift in the current political situation or unforeseen circumstances, the 11th parliamentary elections are to be held no later than January 28, 2019. It is against this background that the final session of the 10th parliament has commenced on Sunday.

That democratic values and democratic institutions are in crisis all around the world is no longer a revelation; casual observation of the current global scene is enough to bear this out.

The Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) has successfully prompted an unnecessary debate just four months ahead of the national

The dire warning of Unicef about the Rohingya children refugees in the camps in Bangladesh that they may become a “lost generation” warrants urgent and serious attention of the Bangladeshi policymakers and world leaders.

Two recent developments have once again raised questions about the role of the international community with regard to the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Although the concept of confront-terrorism and related strategies have a long global history, the attack at the Holey Artisan Café on July 1, 2016 made counter-terrorism (CT) a topic of public discourse in Bangladesh.

The US Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Trump's travel ban, infamously known as the “Muslim Ban”, will have far reaching impacts, both domestic and international.

Banglade-sh's decision to respond to the ICC's request regarding the Rohingya situation, particularly about the territorial jurisdiction of ICC, is a welcome development. It's encouraging to see that Bangladesh, at least presently, is making a prudent move to consider options beyond the bilateral arrangement with Myanmar regarding repatriations of about 750,000 refugees. The futile policy of “putting all eggs in one basket” seems to have run its course with no visible results.

Since the government launched the so-called “anti-drug drive” in early May, akin to the Philippines' “war on drugs”, more than one hundred people have been subjected to extrajudicial killings. Although the number and pace of these killings, described by the government as “gunfight”, have been staggering, extrajudicial killing is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh.

The cancellation of the much-hyped planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not completely unexpected for several reasons.

Can an autocrat redeem himself as a champion of democracy?

He importance of the members of the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar regarding the Rohingya crisis cannot be overstated.

The suggestion of the parliamentary public administration standing committee members for a “logical reform” to the existing quota system in the civil service system should be considered as a positive step towards the resolution of the ongoing debate on the quota system.

WITH no street agitations or unexpected turn of events, and with the ruling party's firm grip over the situation, 2017 was politically a relatively calm year. But it was neither uneventful nor inconsequential.