Who will take care of Mizan’s children?

Fariha Sarawat

Published in the Daily Star on 23 May 2009.

ON Thursday 14 May 2009, a grenade explosion critically injured a two-year old boy and a two-month old girl. Under ordinary circumstances, these children would have the sympathy and support of most. But these children have had no such luck. Their parents’ sins overshadow their plight as victims. Their father is “Boma Mizan”, the explosives expert of the banned Islamic militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and their mother is his dutiful wife who in an effort to save her husband exploded a grenade, blowing up her right hand and injuring her children.

These children now lie helpless in their hospital beds, and a visit revealed their dismal condition with no adult supervision and minimum care.

The NSU incident — A microcosm of Bangladesh?

Mridul Chowdhury

Published in the Daily Star on 13 May 2009.

THE North South University incident of May 10th of a non-violent protest being dealt with police batons and tear gas is symptomatic of a larger problem that has permeated our entire society — lack of adequate mechanism to voice grievances and unjust reaction by those in power when grievances do get raised. When a general citizen dies at a public hospital due to negligence, there is no one to complain to since certain quarters are much too powerful. When a female student in a university gets harassed by a local hooligan, she keeps silent since even the teachers do not want to ruffle feathers. When an ethnic minority leader dies during interrogation, no one raises questions since the answers are buried too deep.

Things I Won’t Tell My Daughter

Tazreena Sajjad

Published in the Daily Star Forum, May 2009.

This piece critiques male entitlement and looks to a more equal future.

Your Silence Will Not Protect You

Fariha Sarawat

Published in the Daily Star Forum, May 2009.

This piece refuses to quietly ‘deal with it’.

Street defenders

Naeem Mohaiemen

Published in the Daily Star on 11 April, 2009.

…there was a particular way that Taslima ignited passions. She was unique and necessary, in that Bangladesh of that time. That earlier role has evolved today not into any central feminist icon, but rather many activists, many movements. Working quietly and loudly, with negotiation and confrontation. For the rights of women on the factory floor, corporate office, university classrooms, home sweet home, and of course, the streets.

Who is ‘Sunita Paul’?

Mashuqur Rahman

Published in the Daily Star on 11 April, 2009.

She holds strongly negative views about Bangladesh, and has published articles maliciously claiming Bangladesh to be anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic.

Picking Through the Wreckage

Jyoti Rahman

Published in the Daily Star Forum, April 2009.

This piece surveys the Pilkhana aftermath.

Chronicle of Tragedy and the Pendulum of Sentiment

Syeed Ahamed

Published in the Daily Star Forum, April 2009.

This piece puts together the definitive Pilkhana time-line based on eye-witness accounts.

Time to rebuild trust

Rumi Ahmed

Published in the Daily Star on 25 March 2009.

One’s life is in the other’s hands. Photo: AFP

I teach applied lung physiology to over 200 first year medical students in the United States. Every year I start the class with a confession and an apology. My students pay $40,000 a year only as tuition. An overwhelming majority of these students finish medical school with an average loan of $200,000.

‘We are poor, but are we not human?’

Asif Saleh and Rumi Ahmed

Published in the Daily Star on 24 March 2009.

 

Unattended and uncared for.

Every Saturday our prime minister speaks directly to the common people for a few hours and hears their grievances, and later asks the relevant ministry to take action on these matters.

Yesterday was one such day. I wasn’t there. But if I were, what would I tell the PM?