Views & Opinion

In celebration of Bangladesh

Shah Ali Farhad: When the world turned away from one of the greatest refugee crises, despite its own limitations, Bangladesh played a major humanitarian role by sheltering over a million forcibly displaced Rohingyas. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina -- unlike many leaders of the developed world, too afraid to speak sympathetically about refugee is...

Sheikh Hasina’s leadership delivers on promises

Shah Ali Farhad:  In the last 10 years, Bangladesh has come a long way on the road of development because one politician has kept her biggest promises and pledges to the people. In 2008, the yet-to-be Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina talked of ‘Vision 2021’ in her ‘Manifesto of Change’ (Din Badaler Ishtehar), an aspirat...

Our light in the deep dark

Syed Badrul Ahsan: There was integrity about him. There was in him the committed soul of a socialist. In him lived and breathed a leader in the real sense of the term, for he was mild in manner, humble in his attitude and firm in his views. Had he not been around in 1971, in the absence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, history would be dif...

The political aspirations of Dr Yunus

Sufi Faruq: The other day I was going through an article by Mohiuddin Ahmed on 1/11 in the Prothom Alo Eid Special, and I found it quite intriguing. In the article, Ahmed claimed that Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus had turned down the army’s offer to become the chief of the caretaker government. He claimed then army chief General...

The myth of the anti-incumbency factor

Shah Ali Farhad: One of the most prevalent and long-standing notions of Bangladeshi politics is that of the “anti-incumbency” factor in politics. In simple terms, this idea propagates that every five years or more, the people of Bangladesh prefer to vote out of power whichever party heads the government in the hopes of changing or s...