Shah Husain Imam

It may appear as though we are looking for a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but believe me, it's not as funny as that. It is actually a desperate disease calling for a desperate remedy.

That Bangladesh offered a safe haven to close to a million Rohingya refugees fleeing wholesale persecution from Myanmar put Dhaka on a high moral pedestal.

We are not even five days into the pall of gloom cast by the alms-giving incident at Satkania, Chittagong causing nine deaths, mostly

The US President Donald Trump in a dramatic move has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal ahead of the deadline set for May 12. True to his hell-bent attitude to abandon the deal spearheaded by his predecessor Obama, he has given another proof of an impulsive action distancing himself from a multilateral approach to romp on to an isolationist trajectory.

We are skating on thin ice as far as our participation in the IPL goes. That is the way we feel—both in terms of representation on the circuit and inclusion in the playing 11 on given days. Speaking of representation, only Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman were chosen from Bangladesh to play in the 11th edition of the glamorous and cash-awash Indian Premier League (IPL) out of six originally making it to the auction list. Four players from Afghanistan were picked from 10 having been put on auction. One has been taken ill leaving three Afghans playing now.

All hell broke loose over the British government! It found itself in the eye of a storm following a self- inflicted controversy raging over what is called the “Windrush generation”. “Windrush” is the name of a ship that had brought thousands of Caribbean people to Great Britain in 1948 to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.

JUST how anarchic the transport sector has become is graphically illustrated by the following instances: In the first place, after having severed Rajib's hand, the beastly bus broke the spine of a housewife near New Market; and grievously wounded a girl's leg as if on a serial damaging spree. Secondly, last Tuesday morning, a collision between a bus and a lorry on Dhaka-Khulna highway, severed a transport worker's hand from his body!

This is ironic and self-contradictory on the face of it. On the one hand, you read in the paper an eight-part series on mostly dead or moribund rivers all over the country—700 in total, of which 54 are trans-boundary rivers. On the other, you get to hear of Bangladeshi experts preparing to impart their knowledge of rivers to the Bihar state government!

As BNP's leadership keeps moving the higher courts to get bail for Khaleda Zia, an accused in the Zia Orphanage case, and trundles along the corridors of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for permission to hold a public rally, the ruling party keeps a stoic distance.

The noise and hype of the Nidahas Trophy tri-series have now settled into a civilised hum.

After the India-Bangladesh T-20 match in the Nidahas Trophy, 2018 tri-series on Wednesday, I felt that the Tigers had deprived themselves of a back-to-back victory. Closely on the heels of last Saturday's epic win against Sri Lanka chasing down a target of 215 runs, the fourth highest in the history of international T-20 cricket, Bangladesh fancied its chances to defeat India.

The attack on Zafar Iqbal has been profoundly appalling but not surprising. He has been stalked for a few years since being put on the hit list by elements fed on a dogmatic diet to finish those off who didn't fit into their narrow view of life.

We need to outwit the graft-taker, outsmart him. In fact, we should try to be one step ahead of him so we can beat him in his own game! The reason why I am suggesting such an unconventional, even a little surrealistic method is simple and easy to understand.

Our social skills have somewhat blunted over time. Virtues that we had taken for granted in the past almost sound like pipe dreams today. Tolerance, live-and-let-live, mutual, professional respect between men and women, consideration for the elderly, civility, courtesy, compassion, and hospitality—once the markers of social behaviour—have turned utopian, unattainable!

Traffic congestion has become synonymous with dwindling livability and quality of life in Dhaka.

We have a shiny sheen of socio-economic indicators, compared to those of most other South Asian countries—Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen never ceases to mention this.

One would have thought that the much-heralded plans for regional, sub-regional and inter-regional connectivity projects should have added up rather than subtracted from each other.

There are quite a few things to be noted about the on-going cold wave. Of them, two are obvious. For one thing, it has been relentless in its pattern, and therefore, cumulative and gripping in its chilling effect.

THE Indian state of Assam is engaged in the process of creating a database of its citizens. It is going beyond the demographic details that were available in the national census report to make use of. No other state of the Indian Union is undertaking such an exercise, and that's where the catch is.

Contrasting speculations linger over the Rangpur mayoral election results. Was the poll “stage-managed” or was it a “calculated game”? Awami League and Jatiya Party, having been broadly on the same side of the political spectrum