Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd)

Unfortunately, winning an election has become the synonym for achieving power.

Is not the media already under duress, and its function heavily encumbered by the Digital Security Act (DSA), without needing a new law which is now on the anvil of the Bangladesh Press Council (BPC)?

Time and again, it has been proven that, when it comes to justice in Bangladesh, some are more equal than others.

An acceptable election depends on the Election Commission's ability to display its grit and resolve, exercise its writ, remain neutral, and be prompt to address complaints and proactive in detecting violations.

As if a million Rohingya refugees are not enough, we have to now face the prospect of Rohingyas sneaking in through the borders from India into Bangladesh.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a remark that assumes significance given the rueful undertone that her statement conveyed.

The word is one of the most pejorative terms in the English dictionary; it is the most reviled term, too, as well as an oft-used mechanism handy to the West to twist the tails of those it dislikes.

The prime minister had made a very profound and significant remark at the beginning of this month on the state of the opposition in the country.

The international system changes with the passage of time—strategic, political and economic compulsions act as the causative factors.

The invasion of Ukraine, which Russia chooses to euphemistically call “special operations,” has produced several lessons for us, as much as it has, once again, exposed various negative facets of the existing world order, the fault lines in international relationship, and the skewed international system hogged by the rich and the powerful.

That is a biblical truth which no man can sunder from reality. The havoc being wreaked in Ukraine is the consequence of the wind that the West has sown since the end of the Cold War.

The counterintuitive decision that the government has taken regarding the endorsement in Bangladeshi passports of travel to Israel demands clear answers.

It is not easy to rationalise some of the recent actions of the government related to the realm of governance, in other words, related to us the people. For now, let us address the second wave of the pandemic and the government’s actions or reactions to deal with it.

Governments in the Western world were galvanised by the “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) slogan after the shooting at the office of the ill-famous sleazy French magazine in Paris in 2015 by Muslim extremists, which ended in twelve of its staff members being killed.

It is a rare piece of good luck for one to witness two historic events in one’s lifetime—the 50th anniversary of the nation’s independence and the birth centenary of its founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. March 26, 2021 was one such day.

More than a decade ago in July 2010, I wrote an article titled “When state is the cause of its own insecurity”.

There were two senior-level meetings between Bangladesh and India so far in 2021.

On February 25, the most reviled and draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) claimed its first victim, and gave the nation its first Digital Security Act “martyr”.

It has been twelve years since the day 57 brilliant army officers were brutally killed by the BDR mutineers.

I believe that every statement of a prime minister contains substance and carries weight, more so when it has to do with politics and the opposition.