More than a decade ago in July 2010, I wrote an article titled “When state is the cause of its own insecurity”.

A dramatic turn of events since the March 17 attack on Hindu villagers in Sunamganj’s Shalla Upazila has been reshaping the narrative on the culpability of potential actors and, by extension, the politics of communal violence in Bangladesh.

As we are now well into the second decade of this century, it is widely acknowledged that this coming decade is our last opportunity to keep the increasing rate of the global atmospheric temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius and prevent the catastrophic impacts of human-induced climate change from occurring around the world.

An institution of higher learning in Pakistan had to cancel an academic conference about 1971.

It’s not all doom and gloom. The past 12 months have seen one bad news after another, and it has often felt like we are taking two steps forwards and three steps back.

Bangladesh has made a transformative journey during the last five decades since its independence in 1971. Steady economic growth, and achievements in the social arena,

From 1979 onwards, since the Soviet Army moved into Afghanistan to support Babrak Karmal and the communist regime, the country has been embroiled in one conflict after another.

News of the pandemic waves of Covid-19 and political waves of the three-fingered protest is making the rounds.

My generation and others close to it formed the bulk of the Mukti Bahini in 1971. The majority of Dhaka University students of the time were an integral part of it, as it was my distinct privilege.

Torture, forced disappearance, displacement, chemical attacks, butchery, loss of lives and limbs, death of family and friends, mass murder: the Syrian people have been through it all in the last 10 years.

March 17 shall forever remain a memorable day in the annuls of Bangladesh’s political history, as well as in the hearts of millions of Bengalis as, on this day, the supreme leader and the progenitor of sovereign Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (fondly called Bangabandhu by his people), was born.

On the afternoon of March 3, 2021, three-year-old Ruhit was playing in front of his residential building located inside the Provita Fish Feed hatchery, when he fell into a large septic tank that had been left uncovered.

Recently it was announced that one of the world’s leading online fashion companies, Boohoo, is looking at financially incentivising its leadership team for achieving sustainability targets.

March is a month that carries special significance for Bangladesh. In March 1971, the country got involved in the Liberation War, which continued for nine long months.

The footage is harrowing. A speech-impaired girl is pushed off a running bus for not being able to pay her fare. She was wearing a note saying that she did not have any money on her.

At 50, it’s time we acted in a manner that reflects a confident country, not one that is nervous and insecure fearing that the slightest criticism will cause us harm.

Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz Roafi were aged between 18 and 21 when they died. They were journalists, working at the dubbing wing of a privately-owned TV station called Enikas, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

There were two senior-level meetings between Bangladesh and India so far in 2021.

This year’s International women’s day (IWD) is being celebrated at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has devasted many achievements the world had so far made.

The World Trade Organization (WTO), the body that is entrusted to promote free international trade, has recently received two very well-timed shots in the arm.