Geneva International Seminar Examines Bangladesh’s Constitutional Crisis, Rule of Law and Human Rights

AL President Sheikh Hasina and international experts discuss Bangladesh’s constitutional crisis, rule of law, human rights, arbitrary detention, judicial independence and democratic participation at a Geneva seminar.

Bangladesh’s Minorities Are Not Safe: A Pattern of Violence the BNP Government Cannot Deny

Forty-four reported deaths in six months, attacks on temples and homes, hundreds of alleged violations, and the killing of four members of a Hindu family in Rangpur have intensified fears among Bangladesh’s minorities. For Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s new government, promises of equality must now be measured against what happens t...

When the Awami League ‘Tag’ Becomes a Licence for Land Grabs and Mob Rule

Bangladesh’s recent wave of alleged land grabs, political intimidation, and police inaction raises a question the BNP government cannot evade: who protects citizens when political connections appear to matter more than the law?  A chillingly predictable playbook has taken hold across Bangladesh: brand any target an "Awami League oper...

Is Bangladesh Safe for Anyone?

Eight months into office, the BNP-led government has delivered not stability but a cascade of violence that has left ordinary Bangladeshis more insecure than before. Murder, rape, attacks on minorities, mob killings, and deaths in custody have become routine features of daily life. What was promised as a return to democratic norms has instead di...

⁨Is Bangladesh at Risk from the Mecca Pact? : Behind the Promise of Friendship, Is Bangladesh Being Drawn into a New Military Bloc?

The Mecca Pact and the Price of Choosing a Side Bangladesh has spent decades trying to do something that is increasingly difficult in a divided world: maintain good relations with everyone without becoming strategically dependent on anyone. Its relationships with India and China are central to its security and economy. The United States and Eu...

Bangladesh’s Lights Are Going Out - and the Government Has No Answers

Not long ago, Bangladesh had largely put chronic load-shedding behind it. Reliable electricity was no longer a daily gamble for most households and factories. Today, that modern reality has been brutally extinguished. Under the newly elected BNP government, building directly upon months of fatal policy inertia inherited from the preceding in...

The Bloodstained Cells: How State Custody Became a Death Sentence

Under the BNP government, state custody has become a death trap for political opponents, with dozens dying amid allegations of torture and medical neglect. In the wake of Bangladesh’s turbulent political transition, the promise of justice and reform has curdled into a nightmare of impunity. While the nation was told that the fall of autho...

“Those who hide behind the mask of neutrality while curtailing freedom of expression are the true fascists”: Mohammad A. Arafat

Journalists being neutral is desirable, but having a political position should not be considered a crime. In virtually all advanced democracies, the media and journalists are divided along ideological lines. In the United States, for example, journalists at Fox News and CNN generally operate from perspectives that align more closely with Republi...

Bangladesh in Crisis: BNP Government’s Catastrophic Failure on Human Rights in June 2026

As Bangladesh grapples with the aftermath of political upheaval, June 2026 stands as a damning indictment of the BNP-led government’s failure to deliver on its lofty pre-election pledges. Promises of justice, security, and human rights reforms have dissolved into a grim reality of surging violence, unchecked impunity, and institutional reg...

A Man-Made Massacre: How Administrative Negligence Ignited Bangladesh’s Measles Outbreak

For decades, Bangladesh was the gold standard for immunization in the developing world. Today, that legacy is being buried in the small graves of children who died from a disease that should have been a memory. For thirty years, Bangladesh served as the textbook example of how a developing nation could conquer infectious diseases. Its Expanded ...

Constitutional Supremacy and the Limits of Executive Law-Making in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis of the Referendum Ordinance 2025 and the July National Charter (Constitutional Amendment) Implementation Order 2025

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh establishes a rigid constitutional framework in which all organs of the State must operate within clearly demarcated limits. Article 7 declares the Constitution to be the supreme law of the Republic and mandates that any law inconsistent with it shall, to the extent of such inconsiste...

⁨Is Bangladesh Heading Toward Bankruptcy?

Bangladesh is passing through a deep economic and social crisis, driven—according to critics—by the implementation of a pro-US agenda linked to Muhammad Yunus and Tarique Rahman. Rising prices, unemployment, fuel shortages, banking instability, and increasing living costs have turned everyday life into a constant struggle for ordinary people. Th...

No Court, No Justice - Blant Political Annihilation of Awami League

A brazen assault on democracy: How Bangladesh’s interim regime and its successors turned counter-terror laws into weapons of political annihilation The world is witnessing a slow-motion demolition of democracy in Bangladesh. In May 2025, the unelected interim administration led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus issued an executive decree that banned the ...

From Political Deadlock to Declaration of Independence

In March 1971, political negotiations between the Awami League and Pakistan’s military regime collapsed as tensions reached a breaking point. After his historic 7 March speech, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signalled resistance. Days later, the Pakistan Army launched “Operation Searchlight,” triggering a brutal crackdown in Dhaka. Before his arrest, ...

Under Legal Fire: How Journalists in Bangladesh Became Targets After 5 August 2024

When Bangladesh underwent political transition on 5 August 2024, journalists were on the streets documenting protests, clashes and uncertainty. Months later, many found themselves not just reporting the news - but becoming part of it. Since that date, a sharp rise in criminal cases, arrests, intimidation and physical attacks against journalis...

Bangladesh Economy Then vs Now - Stability Under Awami League vs Fiscal Strain Today

Under the Awami League, Bangladesh experienced strong GDP growth of 6–7%, rising exports, expanding infrastructure, and declining poverty. Although public borrowing increased, rapid economic growth helped sustain it and masked structural weaknesses such as low tax collection and banking fragility. Today, growth has slowed and fiscal pressure ...

Paper Fraud in the Name of a Referendum: Votes Without Voters, Percentages Beyond Reality

What has been presented as a referendum is being described by critics as a paper exercise designed to manufacture legitimacy under the patronage of the “illegal” Yunus government. They argue that no matter how figures are arranged, falsehood remains false. An analysis of the Election Commission’s declared results, they claim, reveals numbers in ...

Bangladesh’s Election and the Crisis of Trust

By all official accounts, Bangladesh’s national election on 12 February 2026 was historic yet controversial, held in ‘forced silence’ but described as ‘peaceful’ and festive. It was the first vote since the interim government took power eighteen months ago. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a commanding majority in the Jatiya Sangsa...

Has the law been written differently for Tarique Rahman?

Once a convicted accused, Tarique Rahman is now receiving one privilege after another, with repeated violations of the law raising deep questions in the public mind. The law that is strict and uncompromising for ordinary citizens—does it become relaxed in the case of Tarique Rahman? Or is he, in effect, above the law? From the very moment...

Deaths Behind Bars: How Custodial Killing Has Accelerated Under the Yunus Government

Custody Without Safety Deaths in jail and police custody have increased noticeably under the Yunus-led interim government, turning detention into a growing source of fear rather than protection. People are being arrested alive and returned dead, with official explanations offering little clarity and even less accountability. What was meant to b...