January 14, 2021
What’s Eating Quader Mirza?
How well do you follow the headlines of your newspapers? If one were to run a quiz to see how well the readers of The Daily Star stack up against each other, the question that is most likely to be...
December 14, 2020
Rifle, Roti, Aurat: The first novel on the Liberation War
Dawn broke in Bangladesh. Shudipto is an early riser, and today was no exception. But it could have been. He didn’t sleep much last night.
December 9, 2020
‘Corruption has spread over the whole society’
Dr Iftekharuzzaman is Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). In this interview with Badiuzzaman Bay of The Daily Star, he talks about distinctive features of corruption in...
November 27, 2020
The road to development is ‘always’ under construction
What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think of the word “development”? I see an image of a signboard, and it’s about the Metro Rail (MRT Line-6) being constructed in Mirpur,...
November 18, 2020
Kindness can heal what blind faith cannot
I remember there was a time when, owing to my youthful naiveté, I would think that living is more than surviving.
November 12, 2020
First transgender madrasa: Let it be the spark for a social revolution
On Friday, November 6, the first madrasa for transgender Muslims in Bangladesh was opened in Dhaka through a private initiative.
November 5, 2020
Sarwar’s abduction: A chilling message for journalists
Late in the evening on November 1, 2020, journalist Golam Sarwar, who went missing on October 29, was found unconscious near a canal at Sitakunda, Chattogram.
November 3, 2020
The political pendulum is rigged to swing back
In an article in August 2018, I argued that emerging political leaders, because of the unique socioeconomic reality in which they grew up, might be more likely to accept change and less likely to...
October 20, 2020
A Long March to Brutalities
It could have been just another episode in the regular show of police and ruling party men merrily clamping down on the “disturbers of public peace” who love to play with people’s emotions with...
October 18, 2020
Death penalty minus political will to stop rape is just good optics
From harsh legal penalties to severe moral reprimands, from street protests and sit-ins to virtual seminars and teach-ins, from increasing mobilisation and visibilisation of pro-choice activists to...