REVOLUTIONS or mass uprisings have been both triumphs and tragedies in history鈥檚 archives, marked by the inevitable complexities that follow the overthrow of entrenched regimes. The July uprising, which brought down the Awami League鈥檚 16-year autocratic rule, is no exception. This student-led uprising was hailed as a watershed moment for democracy in Bangladesh,...
Voter turnout is diminishing around the world and the results of elections are increasingly questioned, a report on the state of democracy said on Tuesday.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman on Saturday said that Bangladesh still had a long way to go to build a robust and strong democracy as weaknesses of...
IN THE 1960s East Bengal, now Bangladesh, witnessed a huge uprising in political and cultural awareness. This period is generally referred to as a political and cultural renaissance, driven by a deep desire for autonomy, democracy, the freedom of speech, secularism and justice. This collective awakening among the people of East Bengal laid the foundation for a non-sectarian, progressive society, which culminated in the 1969 mass uprising and played an important role in Bangladesh鈥檚 independence in 1971...
IN THE last month, Bangladesh has experienced a disturbing surge in violent incidents involving large groups acting outside the law. Recently, in less than a week, a teenage Hindu boy in Khulna was brutally assaulted and beaten by a mob in front of local police after being accused of defaming Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) on social media. Concurrently...
IN THE annals of human civilisation, democracy stands as a magnificent garden, a living, breathing ecosystem that requires constant care and attention. This garden, with its countless plants representing the diverse voices and ideals of society, is not a barren, untamed wilderness but a carefully cultivated space where the fruits of freedom and justice can flourish...
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday called a two-day programme to pay homage to those who were killed in the movements against authoritarian rule over the past 17 years and to mark International Democracy Day...
LORD Acton famously said, 鈥楶ower tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.鈥� When citizens fail to hold their government accountable, a regime can accumulate unchecked power, weakening even the strongest checks and balances and leading to autocracy. John Stuart Mill鈥檚 reminder that 鈥楾he price of liberty is eternal vigilance鈥� highlights...
The constitution contains a controversial clause that restricts members of parliament elected through a political party from exercising their voting rights in parliament according to their own will if it contradicts the party鈥檚 decision. Article 70 of the constitution empowers political parties to oblige their members of parliament to comply with party decisions...
Students and teachers on Tuesday at a discussion said effective academic practice, space for dissent and democracy with functioning students鈥� union could create a flourishing environment at universities in the country.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday said that the party would face all kinds of challenges in the process of establishing democracy...
IN A democracy, the judiciary is more than a mechanism for resolving disputes 鈥� it is a pillar that upholds the rule of law, safeguards human rights and ensures that every citizen is treated with fairness and dignity. The courts, as symbols of justice, are meant to be sanctuaries where the truth is sought and justice is served impartially...
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday said that that chief adviser Mohammad Yunus鈥檚 address to the nation lacked a roadmap for transition to democracy.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party said on Thursday that Switzerland was ready to cooperate with any initiative taken by the Bangladesh government to recover laundered money and democracy...
THOSE who are currently students at universities in Bangladesh came of age during the autocratic rule of the now fallen prime minister Sheikh Hasina (2009鈥�2024). They never had a taste of democracy; they never saw any credible election in their country. All they saw was political repression and corruption at every tier of the government and at every level...
Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday said that their party would continue to support the interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, as long as it remained committed to democracy....
BANGLADESH has been transformed into a mausoleum of democracy under the iron fist of Sheikh Hasina. Her reign, a protracted nightmare for the Bangladeshi people, has been marked by a relentless erosion of institutional integrity, a cancer that has metastasised through body politic. With each passing year, the democratic fabric of this young nation...
THIS is not the piece I intended to write just 24 hours ago (August 4). As Dinah Washington once famously sang, lyrics taken from the 1934 original 鈥楥uando vuelva a tu lado鈥� by the Mexican songwriter Maria Grever, 鈥榳hat a difference a day makes鈥�...
Awami League president and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina will return to the country once democracy is restored, said her son Sajeeb Wazed, according to a report of the Press Trust of India...
THE International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Asian Development Bank are complicit in the gross human rights violations and death of democracy in Bangladesh. They continued to supply financial blood line to the regime, well-documented for its corruptions, human rights violations 鈥� such as forced disappearances and tortures...
The fall of a dictator is always destined. So it was with Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the country for the last 16 years, destroyed all public institutions, and became an absolute authoritarian...
THE inspector general of police Deshabandu Tennakoon finds himself at the centre of a controversy that goes to the heart of Sri Lanka鈥檚 democracy. The Supreme Court has directed that he should be restrained from acting in the position of head of police until the court has fully considered all the petitions submitted against his appointment...
Cultural activists on Monday demanded restoration democratic environment and justice for students while the government imposed countrywide curfew and seized the rights to organise meetings and practise democracy during quota protests...
Donald Trump, holding his first camp, surviving an assassination attempt, rejected concerns that he is a threat to America鈥檚 democratic system, triumphantly telling the crowd, 鈥業 took a bullet for democracy.鈥�...
ARE elections overplayed as a tool of representative democracy, as some claim? Or they are about getting past the post in each seat making the issue of public representation fluid but keeping a system going which many are used to and comfortable...
Pope Francis decried the state of democracy and warned against 鈥榩opulists鈥� during a short visit to Trieste in Italy鈥檚 northeast on Sunday ahead of a 12-day trip to...
THE underplayed defeat for his government by 32 seats in the parliamentary elections, with a whopping loss of 63 BJP MPs from the previous tally, may have reined in prime minister Modi鈥檚 self-obsessed march on Indian democracy for now. His new and untested experiment with a coalition government has just begun, with the opening of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24...
The Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, a partner of Ganatantra Mancha, observed 20th founding anniversary with the vow to restore democracy on Friday...
HALF of the world鈥檚 population will have the opportunity to vote by the end of this year as 64 countries and the European Union are scheduled to open their ballot boxes. No previous year has been so flush with elections. Among these countries is India, where a remarkable 969 million voting papers had to be printed ahead of the elections...
