Kamal Ahmed

The timing of the US sanction on Gen Aziz Ahmed raises many questions.

The accused in this case, against whom the opposition chief whip sought the speaker’s intervention, is none other than the populist lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman.

The Eid festivities in April marked a grim milestone with a record number of road traffic accidents and casualties.

Bangladesh has once again denied any instances of enforced disappearance, despite facing harsh criticism from human rights activists and calls from leading Western democracies to investigate alleged cases.

““Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”- This is what article 19 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration promised 75 years ago.

Reports of violence against minorities during and after the boycott-ridden, controversial election have raised questions against Awami League’s claimed commitment to protecting the minorities.

The EC's attempts to portray the election as participatory and fair seem to have been more focused on appearance than on genuine efforts to achieve these goals.

The frequent vilification of Dr Yunus by senior Awami League members, including the PM, have led many to believe this was an orchestrated persecution.

It is clear why Awami League is so desperate to make January 7, 2024 look like a genuine competition, without any real competitors.

We have never seen politicians belonging to the ruling coterie seeking and securing guarantees in election bargain like they have this time

Speaking out against domestic human rights abuses cannot and should not wait until all other global injustices have been addressed.

We are witnessing an engineered intra-party contest as most of the independents belong to the ruling party.

Calls for independent, transparent investigations into cases of alleged enforced disappearances and ratification of the much-discussed convention on disappearances got louder at this UPR.

The EC has repeatedly said one thing and did something other than that, if not the opposite.

Can anyone be blamed for concluding that the EC is partisan and incapable of performing impartially and independently?

The ruling party should stop organising parallel programmes and fuelling confrontation.

It is quite perplexing why the government seems set to repeat the measures that led to horrifying consequences between December 7 and 11 in 2022.

CJ Hassan’s open expression of the desire to not politicise the judiciary is significant.

It is hard to discard the notion that politics played no part in this decision from the government.

The government’s pledge for a free and fair election is no longer satisfying our international partners.