During an unprecedented attack like the one at Holey Artisan Bakery, crisis management is of utmost priority. Looking back, security forces did well to set up cordons to keep at bay meddlesome reporters. The subsequent media blackout, though late, was a good call and could feature in a standard operating procedure. In comparison with regional incidents, commandoes acted with reasonable urgency. However, medical evacuation appeared poorly managed and if not for the proximity of United Hospital, more lives may have been lost.
As we mourn, we must realize that the fight ahead of us is a difficult one, but one that must be won. Without mass-surveillance. Without impinging on freedoms. Without help from international bodies with vested interests. Without police brutality. Continue reading “Untangling horror”
The Bangladeshi psyche is a moral and political waste land today. In this dizzying and disorienting kaleidoscope of decay, one name shines more brightly than anyone else today: Faraaz. Continue reading “Staying Back”
I have been playing the narrative repeatedly inside my mind. Many have written to me asking what can we collectively do. What makes a boy pick up a gun instead of protecting his friends when facing death? I am not a parent, but I can tell from my experiences while still gathering my thoughts.Continue reading “Drishtipat saved me from brainwashing”
Bangladesh has not seen this type of ferocious attack and killing of innocent people before. We express our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims, although no amount of consolation can soothe them. Our thoughts are also for the injured and terrified. Everyone in the country is feeling the anxiety and uncertainty. Continue reading “Holding the Economy to Ransom”
So, a night of absolute terror preceded the glorified Night of Power this Ramadan. And it has left Dhaka in a stupor; in a dazed state of disbelief and heartbreak. There is talk of vengeance in the air; and there is the call to patience. There are defenses of creed and vilification of entire traditions. Continue reading “No Righteousness Without Mercy”
O religious, and o secularist. Both sides will die and die. But you will never understand: From Shahbag to Shapla, you are being used by others. The pied piper of deep politics, the puppet-master, will play his game of death. Continue reading #SOSBangladesh: Who is Behind Deep Politics?
The problem(s) for a nation with weak state, befuddled civil society, and eviscerated public intellectuals is that anyone and everyone can use your territory for their own project.
Samiul Alam Rajon had studied up to the fourth grade and used to sell vegetables to make a living. His father is a microbus driver by profession. He and unnamed accomplices were suspected of stealing a rickshaw van. The boy was beaten, poked, tortured for nearly half an hour, resulting in his death. Continue reading “The Death of Rajon”
“Another significant criticism of the project has been the possibility of illegal immigrants being issued aadhaar cards. This criticism is aimed primarily at immigrants from Bangladesh. who have been living and working in many parts of India.” Continue reading “Aadhar: Today India, tomorrow Bangladesh?”
Let me start by asking you all a question. You may have a very strong religious affiliation; your faith may be impeccable. Or you may be deeply indoctrinated with a political ideology. Passion runs deep in your vain in favor of your faith or ideology. But does this passion permit you to break the basic law of humanity, i.e. kill innocent people? And if you do any such act out of this strong political of religious conviction, can you get away saying that it’s not my fault, some religious or political leader used my passion to make me commit such crime?
Or, something else altogether?…It is a gratuitous and simplistic binary, but we could not help notice that the same week that amateur terrorist Nafis’ photo was plastered on a shrill and scaremongering media (with the words “Bangladeshi” attached to an escalating fear narrative), the other face of Bangladeshi youth in New York is The Cosmics’ brand new video.
Blogger Rumi (a successful medical doctor in US who came here on a student visa in the 1980s): “The outrageous, inexcusable act of The Bangladeshi Student, facilitated and influenced by an FBI undercover agent, has claimed it’s first victim – the student visa system.” Student visas concern after terror plot Grand Jury to be convened
Source: bdnews24
Nafis was allegedly planning something for which he will go to jail for life. But, how far would he have actually got without help from the FBI? Below are some discussions in US blogosphere about this topic.
From comments section on ATLANTIC:
Chuñdy: No one is arguing that he shouldn’t face serious jail time. We are questioning whether the FBl and the media should be portraying this 21-year-old doofus as a terrorist mastermind. They caught a gullible wannabe jihadist who couldn’t tell the difference between an inert bomb and a real bomb. Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Mark Holland A man who can be so easily compelled to mass murder is a real threat. On the other hand, people in the FBI are ordinary and thus more concerned with personal goals than abstractions. This case will make a lot of people at FBI very famous and later, very wealthy. I have zero pity for the kid and few illusions about the “public” sector.Continue reading “Nafis: Terrorist Mastermind or Witless Patsy?”
His family said Thursday that Nafis was incapable of such actions. “My son can’t do it,” his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said as he wept in his home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in north Dhaka… Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a U.S. degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh. “I spent all my savings to send him to America,” he said. He called on the government to “get my son back home.”
