The August 5, 2026 media interaction at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club South Asia (FCC South Asia) in Delhi by ousted Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina appears to have triggered a full-scale diplomatic spat between Bangladesh and India. It was her second such event hosted at the same venue by the same media group within seven months. The differences between the January 23 and August 5 events, however, are remarkably stark, not only in their substance but also in their fallout. Both events were organised after Hasina was found guilty of crimes against humanity by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) and sentenced to death. On January 23, the FCC only delivered an audio message from Hasina. On August 5, however, both she and her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, took questions from the media. The first event took place while the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus was in office, ahead of the February 12 national election. The second was held on the very day Bangladesh was ...

  July 16 was a special day this year. On this day, we observed July Martyars Day for the first time, marking the ultimate sacrifices made by heroes like Abu Sayeed and Md Wasim Akrum. Yet, while we remained focused on post-uprising efforts to rebuild the state through forging political consensus and reforming institutions, our border management seemingly slipped into disarray. On July 17, Bangladeshi media reported that the day before, India had pushed 55 individuals across the border at four locations in Sylhet and Sunamganj. Citing Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sources, the report noted that these push-ins took place between 4am and 1pm. The cumulative number of individuals forcibly pushed into Bangladesh may have already exceeded 2,000. Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain acknowledged that such incidents persist despite the existence of formal mechanisms between the two countries for verifying and returning nationals. “There is a prescribed process between the two countries ...

India is now grappling with the delicate task of finding a sanctuary for the ousted Sheikh Hasina, who had long been a steadfast and trusted ally in South Asia. The decision is aimed at preventing further deterioration in its already strained relations with Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the new interim government, led by Nobel laureate Dr. Yunus, seems to be gathering momentum and is poised to reshape the regional political landscape. Once celebrated as an “Iron Lady” for bringing stability—an essential prerequisite for business, whether for democratic or authoritarian powers—Hasina’s dislodgement by a popular uprising now compels every major global player to reassess their strategies. Hasina’s fall from power has been marked by a violent and disgraceful exit, which resulted in approximately 1,500 deaths, including children. This tragic outcome underscores one of the bloodiest modern-day attempts by any dictator to cling to power. Her efforts crumbled when security chiefs refused to shoot civ...

 In the hours before Sheikh Hasina fled Gonobhaban, her official residence in Dhaka, on 5 August, Bangladeshi security forces killed scores of protesters who had joined a huge march to the capital demanding an end to her autocratic rule. Around the same time, it has since been reported, Hasina had pressured the army chief to enforce a curfew using deadly force, which would have meant the military joining the bloodbath. The army chief refused. The prime minister’s desperate hold on power finally slipped when security chiefs warned that the advancing protesters would reach Gonobhaban within an hour and they doubted their ability to contain the crowd. Speculation that India, her strongest international ally, would intervene in her favour proved unfounded, and Hasina was left at the mercy of the military, which ultimately facilitated her escape across the border. She wound up at a safe house in Delhi, trying but failing to gain asylum in the United Kingdom. All told, the...

On 7 January, Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, is set to claim re-election in what some observers have called “staged polling”, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has termed a “dummy election” and   The Economist  has described as a “farce”. Desperate to avoid a genuine democratic exercise, Hasina’s government has preemptively removed its only real challenger from the field. More than twenty thousand BNP activists are behind bars, as are key BNP leaders, and the opposition party has decided to boycott the election rather than contest an unfair vote. The farce is best explained with the facts. For the 300 directly elected seats in Bangladesh’s parliament, the ruling Awami League has official nominees in 263 constituencies. In addition, it also has 269 party members standing as “independent” candidates, meaning there are two or sometimes even more Awami League candidates in many places – and that’s not counting the candidates of other parties allied to ...

Bangladesh has had two elections since the system of a non-partisan caretaker government overseeing elections was abolished. One was boycotted by most of the parties except the allies of the ruling Awami League, and the other was participated in by all the registered and unregistered parties. In reality, neither could be termed participatory, as voters were practically disenfranchised on both occasions. As we approach the third consecutive election to be held under the AL administration—which has so far been a restaging of 2014, due to the boycott by opposition parties—one question that worries everyone is: how will the world react? It is clear why Awami League is so desperate to make January 7, 2024 look like a genuine competition, without any real competitors. Allowing aspirants of ruling party tickets to run as independents against ruling party nominees has already resulted in numerous bloody, internecine conflicts. Discontent among the ruling party’s allies, too, makes the future o...

    The Income Tax (IT) department’s sudden raid at the BBC premises in India has drawn widespread condemnation against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has shocked journalists, activists and opposition politicians alike. Such a high-handed action against one of the oldest and most trusted global broadcasting networks, understandably, will be a cause of concern and discomfort in Western capitals, as well as those in every democratic country.  The raid, which the IT officials have described as a “survey” follows recent controversy over the BBC’s showing of a two-part investigative documentary, ‘’India: The Modi Question’’, which for the first time revealed a confidential investigation by the British government into the 2002 Gujarat riots that left more than a thousand Muslims dead. The British investigation report concluded that the violence had “all the hallmarks of genocide” and found Modi “directly responsible” for not stopping the killings of Muslims....

The distressing image of Ali Azam, president of the Boali union of the BNP in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur district, leading the funeral prayer of his mother in fetters and handcuffs has exposed the emptiness of so-called compassion in our policing and the prison system. It is well known that parole is granted only on the ground of compassion to anyone under custody, irrespective of conviction or even if they are under trial. But Ali Azam’s case has proven that such a compassionate act can also become an egregiously uncompassionate behaviour.  Though this excruciating image has drawn widespread condemnation within the country, the government seems to be unmoved. Neither any action has been taken against those involved in such inhumane treatment to a detainee, nor any investigation has been ordered, despite a rare intervention by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard. The only voice heard was of Information Minister Hasan Mahmud, who said that taking off Azam’...