NINETEEN seventy-one arrived, not as a year, but as a violation, a savage tear in the thin skin of what we dared call life. I was a child, a splinter of a being, four years old, yet the tremors of that brutal rending still reverberate in the hollow spaces of my bones. They call it the Liberation War, a tidy phrase for a messy, monstrous thing. It was the air we choked on, thick with...
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to reopen the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who was sentenced to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War...
BANGLADESH, a nation forged in the crucible of its 1971 liberation war, now sees its legacy of sacrifice and identity increasingly distorted into a tool for political spectacle. Over the last 16 years, the Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina has leaned heavily on emotional rhetoric and symbolic gestures to cement their authority. This reliance on...
HIGHER education plays a vital role in a country鈥檚 development, serving as a conduit for nurturing the knowledge and skills of its people. Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh鈥檚 higher education sector has grown considerably, with the establishment of numerous public and private universities significantly expanding access to education...
The Bangladesh interim government on Wednesday refuted attempts to distort the history of 1971 War of Independence, referencing a book written by the late J N Dixit, a former Indian foreign secretary, diplomat, and national security adviser....
The nation on Monday celebrated the 54th Victory Day amid festivity, paying tribute to the freedom fighters who made supreme sacrifices to free the country from the marauding Pakistani army in the War of Independence in 1971.
IN THE quiet spaces between history and memory, where the weight of time presses heavily, there are forces unseen but deeply felt. Military might, cold and calculating, intertwines with the raw, untainted zeal of youth, pulsing with the hope of a future unshackled. From the dust and blood of 1971 to the turbulent echoes of 2024, the struggle for sovereignty...
THE call for constitutional change in Bangladesh has intensified, not merely for refinement but as a profound demand for democratic renewal. Reforming the 1972 constitution within its current framework overlooks a critical reality: the document is itself embedded with principles that have enabled authoritarianism rather than safeguarded against it...
THE government鈥檚 announcement for the people who did not take part in the liberation war but have managed to get certificates as 1971 veterans to return their credentials on their own is a welcome step forward towards ensuring justice for the people who took part in the war and for citizens who have so far been led to believe that a number of such people...
Bangladesh interim government Liberation War Affairs adviser Farooq-e-Azam, Bir Pratik on Wednesday asked fake freedom fighters, who managed to get certificates as 1971 veterans to return the credentials voluntarily to evade punitive actions...
THE Shahbagh movement of 2013 and the recent July-August uprising stand as defining chapters in the evolving narrative of Bangladesh鈥檚 socio-political history. The two protests, distinct in origins and goals though, explain interwoven paths of public mobilisation, collective memory and the exercise of state power. The Shahbagh movement emerged from a nation鈥檚 quest for justice, its rallying cry demanding the...
Communist Party of Bangladesh leaders on Sunday at a rally said that the spirit of the liberation war of 1971 has not yet been implemented...
Politicians, youth leaders and professionals at a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday demanded the official recognition of the day of the first national flag hoisting before the beginning of the war of independence in 1971...
The Armed Forces Day will be observed today amid festivity and enthusiasm marking the establishment of the army, navy and air forces during the 1971 Liberation War...
THE magnificent origin of Bangladesh鈥檚 Armed Forces Day goes back to 1971 in the battlefields of the war of independence. November 21 is a significant day in the victory saga of patriotism. On this day, the army, the navy and the air force united with the Mukti Bahini, freedom fighters 鈥� and led the joint offensive against the occupation forces...
Social welfare adviser Sharmin S Murshid on Saturday in Rangpur said that one lakh heroic freedom fighters of 1971 did not get justice during the post-independence period...
SHOULD Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami be permitted to engage in politics without first addressing its role in the 1971 liberation war? This question takes on heightened significance in light of the 2024 mass uprising. If Jamaat is sincere about its desire to participate in the current political landscape, offering an apology appears essential. Without such...
SINCE the ouster of the Hasina-led government, Bangladesh has strongly indicated that it wants to strengthen relations between the two countries to ensure a democratic South Asia while also resolving the issue of the liberation war of 1971 with Pakistan. Bangladesh-Pakistan relations were strained during Hasina鈥檚 15-year rule. However, the leadership...
Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Tuesday said that the current government did not give any impression at all to Pakistan that Bangladesh was willing to build good relations leaving...
AS BANGLADESH navigates through a pivotal phase in its political and social transformation, the necessity of maintaining communal harmony has never been more critical. The country鈥檚 rich tradition of religious tolerance, once a shining example for the region, now faces the gravest threats in recent memory. The foundations of this harmony, deeply...
AS A navy veteran, the naval battles of Trafalgar and Jutland have always captivated my attention. These pivotal encounters, while defining moments in maritime history, have broader implications that resonate across continents and centuries. Their echoes can be heard in the struggles for freedom across the globe, including Bangladesh鈥檚 relentless...
IN RECENT days, Bangladesh has seen student protests in many parts of the country, especially on university campuses. The protesting students have valid reasons to protest about a quota system that they find highly unfair and discriminatory. A whopping 30 per cent of the well-paid and massively oversubscribed Bangladesh Civil Service posts...
WITH a population of nearly 170 million in an area of 147,570 square kilometres, Bangladesh is the eighth most populated country in the world. It is still one of the least developed countries, poised to graduate to a developing country by 2026 and a developed country by 2041...
With five days still to go in the first monsoon month鈥擩une鈥攖he north-eastern district of Sylhet already recorded an amount of rainfall that was never seen in the month since Bangladesh鈥檚 independence in 1971...
Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan on Monday said that no other countries in the history of the world had witnessed such genocide in such a short span of time as Bangladesh saw in 1971...
President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Saturday urged the government as well as the civil society to play an effective role to ensure that...
THE Bangladesh state in 1971 is complex in its functional identity as it was a state in occupation fighting for liberation. The state formation process followed unorthodox routes, incorporating both formal and informal realities in separate and...
