It is a privilege to speak in Geneva, among those who share a commitment to human rights, truth, and justice. It is in that spirit that I must speak about Bangladesh — a country whose people rose in 2024 wanting change, but whose present is now marked by violence, denial, and a dangerous attempt to
Introduction: A Nation in Crisis In Bangladesh, fear and uncertainty grip the nation. The Monsoon Uprising, a wave of protests that toppled the Awami League government in August 2024, has spiralled into chaos, marked by mob violence, revenge killings, and a surge in extremist influence. Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical Islamist political movement long accused of fostering
The interim government of Muhammad Yunus is sinking under the weight of its own contradictions. Once hailed by foreign observers as a corrective to Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian drift, Yunus has embraced the very tactics of repression he claimed to abhor. The arrests of former minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Dhaka University Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon,
On the surface, the July Declaration launched in Dhaka reads like a triumphant statement. It celebrates the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government and the symbolic end of a long cycle of repression and democratic backsliding. Yet beneath the rhetoric of liberation, the document offers little in the way of stability, unity, or justice. It is
10 Questions For Priyajit Debsarker 1.) In your analysis, you highlight both the pitfalls and the immense potential for collaboration in the subcontinent. What do you believe is the single greatest barrier to achieving real regional cooperation? It is extremely difficult to pinpoint one fundamental underlying reason for this perpetual spiral of enmity. However, if
In late 2021, not long after Kabul fell, I received a message from a young woman I had once mentored during my time in Afghanistan’s parliament. She was smart, sharp-tongued, and obsessed with becoming a judge. I still remember her saying, “I want to be the one who tells old men they’re wrong.” When the