Mastodon

Saleem Samad

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, and recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at ; Twitter @saleemsamad

Why the world is silent about persecution in Balochistan?

At the onset of the Holy Ramadan month, Muslims all over the world were busy with fasting rituals, and the global protest against the occupation of Balochistan on 27 March 1948 was not heard across the globe. Balochistan, for 76…

Japan to tie landlocked Northeast India with Bangladesh

Hopes for the Red Sun finally glimmer lights over landlocked northeast India and plans to connect with landlocked states with Bangladesh, which has been deemed as geostrategic significance to Japan. Japan after the brutal Second World War has developed several…

The fractured state of Myanmar

If anybody reads Myanmar’s state-run daily newspaper, the Global New Light of Myanmar, the oldest English Daily that covers news, the state Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV), one would not fathom the crisis faced by the Myanmar government. News coming…

February 21st: International Mother Language Day

The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) on 21st February is observed worldwide to promote cultural diversity, linguistics, and multilingualism, In Bangladesh, the day is observed as National Language Martyrs Day. UNESCO announced the IMLD on 17 November 1999. It was…

China’s dam on Brahmaputra to threaten BD, India

China secretly built the world’s biggest dam over the mighty Brahmaputra River which is likely to jeopardise the ecology, environment, and morphology. If the mega project goes through will immensely cause hardship for several million people in downstream India and…

India is not among the top 10 development partners of Bangladesh

When India promptly felicitated Bangladesh for holding a “free and fair” 12th National Elections, the government leaders in Bangladesh were visibly excited. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on her “victory for a historic fourth…

Sheikh Hasina hints at dealing with sanctions after the election

Looming threats of sanctions on labour issues have raised eyebrows among the government, policymakers, garment entrepreneurs and industrial bodies. Most ready-made garments (RMG) factories have failed or partially implemented international compliance and ethical practices, which has ignited labour unrest. Recently,…

Is Bangladesh slowly embracing an Indo-Pacific strategy?

Bangladesh is visibly and invisibly leaning toward the superpowers including the United States, China and Russia. But it also has friends and allies in the Middle East. India has been a proven friend, which has partnered with Bangladesh’s development. Bangladesh…

China has to go beyond tokenism to ensure return of Rohingya to Myanmar

The lights are dim at the end of the tunnel in case of repatriation of Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. The country hosts nearly 1.2 million Muslim Rohingya people who…

Why India and Bangladesh need to resolve the Teesta water-sharing issue ahead of elections

Both Bangladesh and India are embarrassed over the immense delay towards a sustainable solution to sharing of the transboundary Teesta river, which remains a bone of contention between the two closest neighbors. This week Bangladesh has raised fresh concern with…

1 2