The Arrest Of Jamaat Leaders

There is a dramatic development in Bangladesh's political arena. Top leaders of The Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami have been arrested on an unusual charge (rather ironic). Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Delwar Hossain Saydee have been arrested after they claimed Nizami's alleged persecution at the hands of the ruling Awami League was akin to the suffering of the Prophet Mohammed. Surely they can use religion at...

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Goodbye Dhaka

This bird is going to take me back to Jakarta. Goodbye Dha...

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Bangladesh: Hartal Is Back

Protests in Dhaka. Image from Flickr by Vipez. CC BY-NC-ND After three years of respite Hartal, a South Asian form of strike action is back in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's opposition alliance has called for a hartal on Sunday (27th of June, 2010) to press for its 11-point demand including solution of the utility crisis, tender manipulation, persecution of opposition leaders and workers etc. Things have heated up as on the eve of the Hartal day there...

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Controversial House of Lords Seminar Sponsored by War Criminal Lobbies

(A translation from the original Bengali version of the piece at Muktangon blog) London: 22 June. An attempt to make the ongoing trial of war criminals in Bangladesh questionable in international arena has been wasted. One makeshift organization called ‘Justice Concern’ tried to arrange this with the help of All-party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (APPGHR) of UK. The role of Lord Eric Avebury, the vice Chairman of APPGHR has also been questioned by different quarters. It may be mentioned here that Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the protectors...

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World Cup Craze In Dhaka

Flags of Worldcup football playing nations proudly displayed. Spanish flag on a car bonnet. I have seen Argentinian and Brazilian flags being displayed like this. Argentinian flag on top of car. This time around I saw huge projection screens put up in public places for viewing Worldcup matches. Jerseys on Sale Huge graffiti on the wall by Argentinian fans. The Brazilian flag is overshadowed....

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Bangladesh in Pictures

Swelled rivers in monsoon season - view from air. One can tell flood is coming. Submerged Brick-fields - just outside Dhaka. The changed name of Zia International airport. Signboard in Pink (or Orange?) - surely not elegant for an International airport. New seats in some Bus stands in Dhaka. Strong enough - but can you sit on that slope? Digital Banglade...

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A book store at Soekarno Hatta International Airport Jakarta. On my way to Dhaka.

**Sent from a mobile device...

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Bangladesh: Netizens Surprised By Bandwidth Export Move

SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable network. Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons Bangladesh is one of the countries of the world which have been lacking behind in providing adequate and cost effective internet service to its citizen. Bangladesh has missed the bus in the 1990s to be connected to the information superhighway via a submarine cable network and finally was connected in 2006. The SEA-ME-WE-4 cable initially had a bandwidth capacity of 12 gigabytes...

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Bengali In Platforms

Bengali In Platforms - by Morrissey No no no he does not want to depress you oh no no no no no he only wants to impress you Bengali in platform he only wants to embrace your culture and to be your friend forever Bengali, Bengali oh shelve your Western plans and understand that life is hard enough when you belong he...

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Bangladesh: Facebook Ban Update

We have got updates about the Bangladesh Facebook ban. The news is not just hilarious but it portrays people of what caliber are deciding what should be censored. From The Daily Star: The government submitted an appeal to the Facebook authority using its automatic 'abuse reporting' tool to remove the offensive contents from its site. After a discussion with 26 information technology (IT) experts, BTRC officials yesterday signed in the social networking site for a while and submitted the appeal. The government blocked access to Facebook...

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