Syed Badrul Ahsan

Bangladesh, and not just its government, is under siege from overseas forces. Its forthcoming general election has clearly begun to exercise minds in nations abroad. Governments in the West and …

Politics in Bangladesh is going through an interesting phase, though not exactly a defining one. One can expect, though, quite a few permutations and combinations between now and the general …

Let us begin with some of the contents of the open letter which 177 high-profile global personalities recently sent to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in defence of the Nobel …

‘What have I done?’ The words escaped Mohammad Ali Jinnah only days into the partition of India in August 1947. He was not speaking to anyone in particular on that …

On 15 August 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most members of his family by renegade soldiers of the Bangladesh army. The murder of …

Had he lived  long Tajuddin Ahmad would have turned ninety-eight on Sunday. Bangladesh’s first Prime Minister, its wartime leader, was possessed of a personality that was self-effacing. Had he not …

Politics is heating up in Bangladesh. With a general election expected to take place in December this year or January next year, tensions have been building up regarding the modalities …

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has let it be known that one does not have to travel across the Atlantic to visit the United States. There are, she has stated, …

Naheed Ezaher Khan was a child in November 1975. So was Mehjabeen Khaled. Today Khan is a member of parliament in Bangladesh. And Khaled has served as a lawmaker in …

Towards the end of this month, Henry Kissinger will become a centenarian. That he will be a hundred years old is surprising. Even more surprising is the fact that despite …

On May Day, the essence is one of a recapitulation of the sacrifices made by some brave men in Chicago in 1886 in defence of their rights as workers. That …

A week before Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year, a lawyer in Dhaka served notice before the Bangladesh High Court asking it to impose a ban …

On 17 April 1971, the very first Bengali government in the very first armed struggle of the Bengali nation for liberty was sworn in under a Proclamation of Independence in …

The people and government of Bangladesh observed Genocide Remembrance Day on 25 March. The adoption of a resolution on March 11, 2017 by Parliament on the observance of 25 March …

The inauguration of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday was yet another sign of the close links the two countries …

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community came under attack last week yet once again from religious bigots in Panchagarh, a town in northern Bangladesh. As in the past, when the followers of …

On March 7, 1971 the people of Bangladesh crossed the Rubicon. When Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rose to address a million-strong crowd in Dhaka on the day, he was doing …

The Ukraine crisis is finally pushing Bangladesh into distinctly uncomfortable territory. In recent days, the Russian authorities have summoned Dhaka’s ambassador in Moscow to the Foreign Ministry to demand an …

Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Momen, on the sidelines of the recent celebrations of Sri Lanka’s 75th anniversary of independence, met Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar …

In the ten months or so , Bangladesh will choose its next government at elections that could be held in December this year or early January 2024. For the government …

I recall that on my very first visit to Pakistan in December 1995 (nearly twenty-five years after I had left it as a high school student in July 1971), as …