C R Abrar

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown major challenges to public policy framing. While responses of the states to the pandemic differed significantly,

he Digital Security Act (DSA) has claimed its latest victim. Last Saturday, police arrested Shahnewaz Chowdhury (37), a diploma engineer of Chattogram’s Banshkhali upazilla, after a case was filed under the DSA for posting a Facebook status.

It was quite a sight. Viewers of television channels and readers of the dailies that carried the images of incarcerated journalist Rozina Islam were baffled at the scale of security measures taken by the state.

So far they pursued their vocations with enthusiasm and passion, and enjoyed doing so. Now forced by the circumstances most can no longer be engaged in their professional activities and have to pass their days in intense uncertainty.

As a nation Bangladeshis commemorated the golden jubilee of their independence a little more than a month ago.

The streets and squares of different towns and cities including those of Rajshahi, Sylhet, Chattogram and Brahmanbaria have witnessed outbreak of wanton violence and mayhem over the last week or so.

They were both active, conscientious, thinking citizens. Both were passionate about social issues, and were gifted—one had a penchant for writing, the other for drawing cartoons.

A few days ago a news item carried by The Guardian, a UK daily, created a major stir in the national media of several Asian countries.

For ordinary Bangladeshis bereft of smart phones and computers, it was a baffling experience. Last week they were bombarded with the message that the Al Jazeera report titled All the Prime Minister’s Men was the outcome of a mischievous conspiracy.

This has happened for the first time in Bangladesh’s history. Last week, a group of conscientious citizens called on the President of the Republic to form the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to investigate allegations of graft and other misdeeds committed by the incumbent Election Commission (EC).

December is a month of celebration. Early in this month in 1971, the final assault on the barbarous Pakistani army was launched by the gallant freedom fighters.

After years of uncertainty the much contested relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char has become a reality. On December 3, 1,642 inmates of the existing camps were brought to the Char via Chittagong by seven vessels of the Bangladesh Navy with much fanfare.

He was no ordinary instrumentalist. Neither was he a run-of-the-mill tutor of music. He was a gifted musician, a rare talent, groomed in one of the most illustrious gharanas ofsub-continental classical music.

The Mro community of the Chimbuk hills is passing days in great uncertainty.

From an unprecedented shutdown of activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country is gradually moving to a new normal situation.

It was a blatant charade of epic proportion.

It took only a few weeks for the authorities in Bangladesh to enact the third episode of a series that could be aptly titled as “Hatching conspiracy, tarnishing image”.

It was a peaceful cultural exhibition on a burning issue; an issue that has been haunting thousands of families of victims and resonating among millions of conscientious citizens of the land and beyond.

It was a repeat performance of some sort. The drama was based on the same script; the acts were played out on the same locations; while the characters representing the state remained almost the same. Their adversaries in this episode arrived from Vietnam.

“Last month, we got to know Shaheen has come back. He said he will have to stay in quarantine for two weeks… His mother and I were waiting for him when we suddenly received a phone call… He told us he is in Kashimpur jail,” narrated Shaheen’s disappointed father to a reporter of The Daily Star.