Counterpoint

Whether it is extortion committed by his partymen, or high-handed action taken by his law enforcement officers, or policy blunders committed by his cabinet, or even something as seemingly minor as the traffic nightmare that surrounds his residence, the buck stops with the PM. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Guests need accessible information about emergency exits and evacuation procedures; staff need regular training and drills. These measures are not substitutes for accountability after a disaster. Read More: [Link in the comments]

We pay the bill, switch on the fan and expect electricity to be there. When it is not, we expect the utility to restore it. For a household accustomed to this arrangement, installing solar means taking on something that previously belonged to someone else's job. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Modern war has developed a strange geography. Missiles land in one country, tankers stall in another country’s strait, fuel prices rise across a third continent, household budgets collapse elsewhere, and eventually fires appear on the streets of Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Limoges. France’s unrest is therefore more than a story about rioting. It shows how international conflict, domestic austerity, failing public services, and political distrust can converge until a local grievance becomes a national rupture. Read More: [Link in the comments]

The future quality of life the Dhaka dwellers will depend on the decisions policymakers make today. With emerging technologies, more countries are embracing smart cities, smart governments and smart economies to drive their economic growth. Bangladesh’s progress in digitalization positions it to set-up smart cities with more efficient, transparent, accountable, responsive and citizen-centric administration and services. Read More: [Link in the comments]

The first article in this series looked at the inadequacy of the amendments made to the law governing Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. But, as it concluded, the fairness of trials depends as much on how the law is applied as on the law itself. Above all, it depends on who is appointed to prosecute and to judge, and whether they can act independently. Read More: [Link in the comments]

China has sketched a hull that sails the world's oceans for years at a time without taking on a single drop of it. The ship that never stops for gas. And the ship that never refuels is a ship that can never be cut off at a choke point. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Can a constitutional safeguard be restored by a court yet depend on Parliament’s permission to exist? On October 6, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed invoked the doctrine of eclipse to explain why invalidating the Fifteenth Amendment’s deletion revived the earlier referendum provision. He also said full restoration required parliamentary incorporation. That combination calls for legal clarity, not competing political assurances. Read More: [Link in the comments]

October 17, 2026, Dhaka. A year has passed since 33 political parties signed the July National Charter 2025. This piece attempts to map the aftermath of the Monsoon Uprising almost two years after it happened. Read more: [Link in the comments]

A seven-year-old girl reportedly told her family that she had been sexually abused by a senior teacher at her madrasa in Tongi. The accused vice-principal was arrested and sent to jail pending proceedings. Yet the public controversy appears to have shifted with remarkable speed from the child's allegation to an altogether different injury: A slap allegedly delivered to the teacher by the child's father. Read More: [Link in the comments]

A seven-year-old girl reportedly told her family that she had been sexually abused by a senior teacher at her madrasa in Tongi. The accused vice-principal was arrested and sent to jail pending proceedings. Yet the public controversy appears to have shifted with remarkable speed from the child's allegation to an altogether different injury: A slap allegedly delivered to the teacher by the child's father. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Should the world surrender to the illusory ideas of these Jesus-like tech giants that the algorithms will know better than human beings to run the world? Should we surrender human intelligence to machine-driven superintelligence? Should consciousness be subjugated by intelligence for technological development, with little regard for human civilization? Read More: [Link in the comments]

A university classroom is supposed to be a place where ideas are tested, assumptions challenged and disagreements resolved through reason. In Bangladesh, however, an increasingly troubling question confronts higher education: Can a teacher still teach without fearing that a disagreement may become an allegation, a classroom exchange may become a social media controversy, or an unpopular opinion may invite demands for punishment before an impartial inquiry has taken place? Read More: [Link in the comments]

Although the Hindu share of the population fell by eight percentage points during the 20 years between 1951 and 1971, it declined by only six percentage points over the following 52 years. And over the 25 years since 2001, it has fallen by just one and a half percentage points. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Niketan is sometimes called the Hollywood of Dhaka. Home to several agencies, studios, and production houses, it is a world of its own. At every tea shop, you hear film crew members talking shop like where to find light stands at this hour, an overbearing director, the tardiness of an uncooperative model, feedback from a client who can't seem to make up their mind. Read More: [Link in the comments]

It would not be unwarranted to say that the run up to the expiry of the GWT is fraught with competing priorities, perceptions and power asymmetry fueled by geopolitical calculations. A certain breathing space will be required for both sides to go through steps to get to an effective negotiating position. Read More: [Link in the comments]

Bangladesh is a country of extraordinary possibilities. Its people have demonstrated resilience in the face of poverty, natural disasters, political turbulence and economic uncertainty. Its entrepreneurs, farmers, workers, professionals and young people have repeatedly shown that, when given opportunity, they can achieve remarkable things. Read More: [Link in the comments]

When you stand up for your citizens you earn respect. It doesn’t close doors, it opens them. If we don’t have respect for ourselves and our own people, how can we expect the rest of the world to? Read More: [Link in the comments]