“It was a time when the unthinkable became the thinkable and the impossible really happened” ― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things India’s Galwan Debacle Recently, in a gun-less fistfight (sort of) between India and China in the Galwan Valley, a stretch of land that divides China’s autonomous region of Tibet from India, 20 Indian soldiers were killed by[Read More…]
Mr. Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia ought to be applauded for his remarkable leadership for mobilisation of best scientific advice and pursuing coherent federal/state policies and enlisting trust and cooperation of ordinary Australians, in tackling the COVID 19 crisis so successfully. By now, spread of the deadly virus in most parts of the country has come to a[Read More…]
For Muslims this is the month Ramadhan, the dawn-to-dusk fasting month, a month which is not merely about fasting but also a reminder to all Muslims of a key obligation of Islam – ‘giving’! For that matter, ‘giving’ as a religious duty is an integral component of every religion. In some religion ‘giving’ is compulsory and in others it is[Read More…]
New Zealand Prime Minister comforting a Muslim woman in the aftermath of the mosque massacre in Auckland, New Zealand in 2019 As of April 30, 2020, there were 3 018 952 confirmed and 207 973 deaths globally[3] and counting though Australia’s Chief Health Officer speculates that given that these numbers cover only those who have been clinically tested and recorded[Read More…]
As of April 17, 2020COVID 19, a health hazard of unimaginable proportions has infected 2020 1.9 million and killed more than 150000 and counting. However, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer speculates that given that these official numbers are based on those who have been tested and recorded as infected and as large numbers remain untested and unrecorded especially in developing countries,[Read More…]
Contrary to the common belief that Government of Bangladesh has been least prepared and that its responses to COVID-19 have been ad hoc and impulsive, it is important to note that the government did have an elaborate plan, ‘National Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID – 19’ and that the Plan was prepared under the guidance of the Directorate General[Read More…]
Broadly speaking most Indian Hindus seem to entertain three perceptions vis-à-vis the Indian Muslims – that Muslims are: (i) ‘invaders’ and thus have no place in Hindu India; (ii) ‘scumbags’, liars, cheats and terrorists and thus be shunned; and finally, to some (iii) they are equal citizens and thus be treated accordingly. Muslims are Invaders and thus have no place[Read More…]
On Monday August 5, 2019, Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special autonomy status to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir; and Ladakh. The move has led to mixed reactions in India though buoyed by the Hindutva ideology the majority who no doubt sees[Read More…]
Uzbekistan always fascinated me. I always wanted to visit this country for several reasons. This is the country from where Timur Lung, the ‘Emperor of three Continents’, the ancestor (great, great, great grand-father) of Emperor Babar, the founder of Mughal Empire in the Indian-sub-continent came from and ruled. This is also the country where Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari who introduced in[Read More…]
In Bangladesh incidents of loot, plunder, enforced disappearances, breakdown of rule of law, extra-judicial killings, deaths and injuries in road accidents through reckless driving have become parts of daily news. Lately, news of audacious rapes, abductions of girls and women and sexual harassments in almost all parts of the country are also becoming common occurrences these days. Spates of horrifying[Read More…]
Whole thing started with Pulwama in Kashmir in Indian Kashmir where a suicide bomber attacked an Indian army convoy and killed 40 soldiers. The incident has happened in the wake of upcoming general election in India which also coincides with Modi’s plummeting popularity that have made some people looking at this sad incident beyond the obvious. There is nothing more[Read More…]
“Equality, Human dignity and Social justice” – the visionof independent Bangladesh, stipulated at the Proclamation of Independence by the Bangladesh Government-in-Exile on 17th April, 1971 in Mujibnagar In recent times, similar to Trump’s ‘Making America Great Again’ (an exclusionary ultra-right slogan) or Modi’s ‘Achche Din’ (promise of good days through Hindutva ideology that seeks to establish the hegemony of Hindus[Read More…]
The 2018 Bangladesh General Election scheduled on December 30, 2018 marks the end of two consecutive terms of the ruling Awami League (AL), first ever by any political party since 1991, the year when parliamentary democracy was re-introduced in the country through a mass movement against a military dictatorship. AL’s decade long rule has witnessed both good and bad. During[Read More…]
Almost all leaders especially popular do good things to gain the status of a popular leader. But they also make mistakes. However, people often seem to get fiercely divided in portraying leaders in a balanced manner, especially posthumously. McCain, an immediate example of contradictions Senator John McCain for example, who died of brain cancer on August 28, 2018 is a[Read More…]
Until 2008, Bangladesh elections did not attract much attention in Indiaand at the same, within Bangladesh, India never figured as an important factor in any of its election discussions, neither.This changed since 2008. Although seeds of the change were sownmore immediately in the aftermath of the end of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) rule in 2006, its origin goes back[Read More…]
2018 Football World Cup frenzy in Bangladesh has left everyone astounded. Entire nation seems to have gone crazy over this year’s championship tournament. Supporters have divided themselves among their favourites and doing the most unthinkable to reveal their choices. For example, a guy in a village, a supporter of Germany, had sold a piece of his land and made[Read More…]
Wind has no smell The aroma it spreads is from the Master’s garden. Nor has it any sound Music you hear in the wind is from the singing birds. Alas! Master’s garden has dried up And the birds sing no more! The crackling noise of the broken trumpet That you hear that hurts your eardrums Is from the oppressor’s loud[Read More…]
I urge you, Mr. Xi Jinping, President of Peoples’ Republic of China to take a good look at this photo. Do you see what I see? I see the agony. I see sadness. I also see numerous questions in the eyes of these Rohingya kids that are asking – why are we here, why our parents are not with us,[Read More…]
George Orwell, the author of the ‘Burmese Days’ once said that, “Every saint is a sinner until proven innocent”. Aung San Su Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate who is currently presiding over one of the most horrendous genocides of our time of her country’s ethnic minority, the Rohyngas- has never been a saintnor is she likely to be one in[Read More…]
Authorities in Myanmar say close to 100 people have been killed since Friday when armed men, reportedly from the ArakanRohynga Salvation Army (ARSA), launched a pre-dawn raid on police outposts in the conflict region and this has been the main cause of the latest violence in Arakan. According to one report, “The army has declared a war against ‘terrorism’, encircling[Read More…]
This would have been early eighties,then as a public servant in Bangladesh I visited a district called Kushtiato inspect progress of implementation of development projects. At that time I was working at the central monitoring organization of the government of Bangladesh. Upon arrival in Kushtia after I met the concerned officials to discuss my project inspection itinerary the officials told[Read More…]
The sad thing about democracy is that every time you vote, a politician wins and for Bangladesh its tryst with ‘democracy’ its politicians have been anything but happy. Most Bangladeshis feel that they have been betrayed by their politicians especially by their leaderships. They have witnessed how their leaders that sought votes and got themselves elected through democratic frameworks[Read More…]
2016 did not end completely hopelessly. In late December,15 Nobel Laureates including Professor Mohammed Yunus and 12 global leaders wrote an Open Letter to the President of the United Nations Security Councils (UNSC) and its members decrying the Rohingya carnage in Myanmar that are“amounting to ethnic cleansing” and that the crisis has “the potential for genocide” and that it “has[Read More…]
Persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar is continuing with impunityand without a break. Dieng and Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, have confirmed these atrocities and “requested independent UN investigations on the alleged ‘ethnic cleansing’ and other mass atrocities in the Rohingya region of Rakhine State”. But Aung San Suu Kyi has remained defiant to an extent[Read More…]
In one of its recent reporting the Guardian reports that at the entrance to Thaungtan village in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta a brand-new signasserts, “No Muslims allowed to stay overnight. No Muslims allowed rent houses. No marriage with Muslims.” Al-Jajeera also reports of similar rise in systematic eviction, rape, loot and arson of Rohingyas (the Muslim ethnic minority of Myanmar’s Delta)[Read More…]
The short answer to the above question is, both! Recent bout started with Uri, the Indian border post at the Kashmir front. 18 Indian soldiers were killed by across-the-border assailants. India blames Pakistan and Pakistan denies and says it is the work of the disaffected Kashmiri insurgents. In the ensuing row India is winning diplomatically, Pakistan is rambling madly and[Read More…]
We Need to Change Our COVID-19 Strategy 
Don’t Stigmatise the Nuke! Opponents of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty 
Scores Of Huge Realities Resolutely Ignored By Mendacious, US Lackey Mainstream Australia 
Ilina Sen As We Knew Her: A Tribute from WSS 
Remembrances and Confessions 
The Rising Binod Culture 
Ilina Sen (January 29, 1951-August 9, 2020) 
Commemorations of the Bhima Koregaon Battle Are a Reminder that Colonialism in India Predates the Arrival of the British 
Modi’s India has lost Kashmir 
Revive the Role of Trust in Economy and Politics 
An Arab Autumn 2.0 Awaits To Happen 
Article 370 & Kashmiri Women: The fading spectacle of empowerment and emancipation 
Bollywood Star Survives COVID, But Stokes India’s Lynching Pandemic 
It Could Have Been Different – My World and (Unfortunately) Welcome to It 
Sri Preston Kulkarni’s RSS Problem 
The Ram Temple Celebration in Modi-fied India 
“At Ayodhya, On Unity in Diversity of 300 Ramayanas, PM Modi Bows before Scholar A. K. Ramanujan” 
70 Years Of Constitutional Rights Denied To 20 Millions Indian Dalit Christians 
Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims await justice: 70 Years of Discrimination based on Religion 
The Attack on Indigenous Rights in Brazil 
Fascism: Classical and present form – differ only in method and strategy 
Media, instead of faulting PM Modi for Bhoomi pooja, chants Jai Shri Ram 
Pushing GMO Crops Into India: Experts Debunk High-Level Claims of Bt Cotton Success 
Social Stigmatisation of Covid 19 Patients 
Growing up as a girl in rural India: What does it mean? 5th August, 2020 and thereafter 
Selective Maritime Rules: The United States, Diego Garcia and International Law 
Beirut Blast 
Lebanon: The Beirut Blast, Destabilisation, Chaos, an attempt at Regime change 
Food Security In India – An Analysis 
Indian Christians Call Upon The Government To Protect The Minorities And The Marginalised 
On Community Control of Police: An interview with M Adams 
Philosophers Of Patience 
US Anyhow Want CPEC/BRI Dead 
Vaccinate This….But!! 
NAPM expresses Solidarity with Adv Prashant Bhushan 
Understanding the Spirit of Quit India Movement Such A Temple Would Not Have Been Acceptable To Ram And Should Not Be Acceptable To A Common Hindu 
Democracy is not about Detention and Suppressing Dissent: Release political prisoners and restore trust 
The World on Fire 
In recent times, the term ‘fascism’ has become so widely used that it has become difficult to define it precisely. It is often used as a metaphor by the fiercest critics of any politics. Historically, however, fascism refers to extreme right-wing, anti-democratic, ultranationalism that spread rapidly through Europe between the two world wars. Though it is commonly associated with Adolf[Read More…]
