About a year ago, a leading business leader told me a story about another business tycoon and once-powerful adviser to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He is now in prison, facing a number of cases ranging from money laundering to crimes against humanity, and this is the second time he has returned to prison. So, the story goes that when Hasina formed the government in 2009, she asked the said adviser what job he would like to have. To her utter disbelief, he apparently asked for a position that would allow him to oversee prison reform. Since prisons fall under the Ministry of Home Affairs, there was virtually no chance she would agree. She asked him why he wanted responsibility for prisons. The adviser, I was told, explained that when he was imprisoned during 2007-08, he had been lodged in one of the condemned cells at the Old Dhaka Central Jail. One night, while offering Tahajjud prayer, he went into prostration and felt something cold beneath his forehead. A chilling sensa...