The National Board of Revenue during the just concluded student movement explained that the tuition fees are inclusive of VAT. The VAT was imposed on private university tuition fees with an aim to expand the scope of revenue collection.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Indo-Pak War that formally began on September 6 in 1965 and ended with a ceasefire 17 days later on September 22.

Iwas deeply saddened by the news of Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali's death on September 14. I first saw him on the front page of The Daily Star, standing with a cigarette in his hand, a large audience in front of him. I began reading the news story only to find that he was from Sylhet, where also lies my childhood connection. His cigarette seemed to have had quite an impression on the whole nation!

Health conscious university kids immediately go on VLCC's VAT-reducing diet. Traffic jam turns into VATtic jam as playing with traffic is the only available bargaining chip.

A quest for inclusive democracy, once timed-out, needs to be undertaken in good time.

Given the prominent roles these nations have in reducing the once thriving Middle Eastern country to rubble and displacing millions in the process, it is nothing short of hypocrisy for them to essentially demand refugees to respect their borders when they had no qualms about invading Syria's border.

In a nutshell, we're influencing education more than education is influencing us. Compared to an aircraft, fake diplomas, superficial learning, material pursuit and contempt for conscience have switched it from headwind to tailwind.

The students of private universities have shown their maturity and creativity in leading a peaceful demonstration against the proposed 7.5 percent VAT.

Division of work among various institutions is an organisational imperative. However, the reality is that no institution in modern times is capable of discharging its assigned duties autonomously without the help and cooperation of a number of other institutions who have some interest in achieving common goals.

A strong civil society is simultaneously a precondition and outcome of a functioning and stable democracy. The United Nations recognises that development and democracy function best when civil society is permitted to flourish unhindered.

During the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King had said, “Revolt is the language of the unheard.”

A similar gesture is needed by Pakistan again. These are self-confessed murderers who did not spare even pregnant women and children. They have been found guilty and sentenced. Let the Bangladeshis deal with them.

The recent series of protests, initiated by private university students against the government decision of imposing 7.5 percent VAT on tuition fees, indicates a profound change in the alleged apolitical nature of private university students.

The most contentious issue is the identity of the federal states and their powers, which has sparked protests. Boundaries of the new states will be delineated by a Commission. Many fear that creating new states will lead to the balkanisation of the country.

The picture of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on the shores of a Turkish beach, has recently caused outrage around the world.

Love him or not, you cannot but be awestruck at the sheer bluntness, call it lack of guile, of Suranjit Sengupta for his candid pronouncement to government employees within 24 hours of their pay hike.

Understandably, there is a sense of horror over the Bhartiya Janata Party government's decision to 'modernise' the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum at Tin Murti in New Delhi.

Although hundreds of nameless refugees from Africa and Middle East have perished in the Mediterranean in the last one-year, the world will never forget the image of the three-year old, cute and well-dressed Aylan Kurdi in a red shirt and blue pants, whose body was lying face down in the sand of Bodrum in Turkey.

If there's a loving woman behind every successful man, there is a moving idea behind every fruitful action. Victor Hugo said that no army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.

While briefing the media after the cabinet meeting on September 7, an eminent secretary suggested that the government was supposed to consider the maximum benefits of public servants instead of endowing a “particular profession” with greater facilities.