Dark clouds hang over Bangladesh judiciary and democracy

Surendra Kumar Sinha, former Chief Justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court (Photo: Dhaka Tribune)

A Bangladeshi photographer in late July took a shot of a crow flying into a dark storm cloud over the nation’s Supreme Court building.

The photograph, beautiful in itself, came to be seen as both prophetic and highly symbolic.

This was because Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, 66, was subsequently forced to resign, two months before his due retirement, after a government campaign of character assassination. 

Takeaways from Pope Francis’ visit to Bangladesh

Tens of thousands of Christians from all over Bangladesh attend a Holy Mass offered by Pope Francis at Suhrawardy Udyan Park in Dhaka on Dec. 1, 2017 (Photo: Rock Ronald Rozario)

Pope Francis’s apostolic journey to Bangladesh on Nov. 30—Dec. 2 was welcoming, peaceful and meaningful as expected.

In some counts, the pontiff’s Bangladesh trip made more buzz than it made in Myanmar, and it was due to the politically sensitive issue he avoided in Myanmar—Rohingya.   

Francis’ three-day interactions with broader sections of Bangladeshi society have touched the lives of people cutting across caste, creed and social status not to mention country’s minority Christians.

স্বাধীনতা: ১৯৭১ বনাম ২০১৯

স্বাধীন বাংলাদেশে আজও অধিকাংশ বাঙালি প্রকৃত মুক্তি ও স্বাধীনতার স্বাদ পায় নি। (Photo: Rock Ronald Rozario)

১৯৭১। বাঙালি জাতি এক স্বর্ণালু স্বপ্নে বিভোর হয়েছিল–পরাধীনতার বন্ধন থেকে মুক্ত হবার নেশায় । এ মুক্তিপাগল জাতিকে পশ্চিম পাকিস্তানি শাসকগোষ্ঠীর শোষণ ও বঞ্চনার অবসানে একটি  শোষণহীন, সাম্যবাদী, ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ, অসাম্প্রদায়িক, দুর্নীতিমুক্ত, ক্ষুধা-দারিদ্রহীন ও সর্বজনের মঙ্গল ও উন্নয়নে ব্রতী দেশ ও জাতি গঠনের সে স্বপ্নে সওয়ার করেছিলেন হাজার বছরের শ্রেষ্ঠ বাঙালি বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান। সুখ-শান্তি-সাম্যের জয়োগান গেয়ে নয় মাসব্যাপী যুদ্ধে কত লাখো তাজা প্রাণ বুকের রক্ত ঢেলে দিয়েছে, কত না নারী সম্ভ্রম খুঁইয়েছে, কত কোটি মানুষ ভিটে-মাটি-সম্পদ হারিয়ে সর্বশান্ত হয়েছে। ১৯৪৭ সালের তথাকথিত ধর্মভিত্তিক জাতীয়তাবাদী উন্মাদনায় ভারত ভেঙ্গে পাকিস্তান রাষ্ট্রের জন্মের যে ঐতিহাসিক ভ্রান্তিবিলাস, তার প্রায়শ্চিত্ত বলির নামান্তর সে সংগ্রাম । আর স্বাধীনতা ও সার্বভৌমত্বের জন্য এই যে বিপুল আত্মদান, বিশ্ব ইতিহাসেই তা বিরল।

Persecution, neglect and silence deepen Rohingya crisis

A Rohingya mother with her children at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on Dec. 7, 2017.
(Photo: Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)

Ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar has strong parallels with the genocide of ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda, one of the worst atrocities of modern times.

From April-July 1994, Hutu militias backed by the Hutu-majority government and military, massacred up to one million minority Tutsis.

The genocide was the culmination of long-time ethnic conflict in Rwanda, a small equatorial republic straddling central and eastern Africa. 

Why Bangladeshi elections are a time for violence against minorities

Hindus walk past a burned down house after a Muslim mob attack in northern Bangladesh in this file photo

A rally of 19 minority rights' groups in Bangladesh has condemned "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The rally also called for protection of minorities in Bangladesh, particularly Buddhists, amid rising anger against Buddhist-majority Myanmar.   

The mass gathering was held in the capital, Dhaka, on Sept. 14.

By some estimates, more than 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine State as refugees since a new round of ethnic violence flared in late August.

Islamic radicals have reportedly threatened to avenge persecution of Rohingya, prompting the Bangladesh government to beef-up security in the Buddhist-majority areas of Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.

The Forgotten People: Bihari Refugees of Bangladesh

The Bihari refugees - 160,000 people who have lived like animals in congested makeshift camps, all over Bangladesh, for more than 40 years.

No relief for Bangladesh's most vulnerable communities

An elderly female tea-plucker works in one of Bangladesh's many tea gardens in this file image. (Photo by Mufty Munir/AFP)

There are many venerable communities in Bangladesh, among them suffering the worst are those working on tea plantations in conditions akin to slavery, the Biharis who are scorned for siding with West Pakistan during Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971 and the stateless Rohingya who have fled neighboring Myanmar.

These communities find themselves facing dire challenges with historical roots that are hard to untangle.  

Pope Francis' Liberalism and Reforms

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, the supreme spiritual leader of world’s 1.2 billion Catholic Christians, made his highly anticipated apostolic journey to Bangladesh on Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

Francis is the third pope to visit this land and the second in independent Bangladesh.

Pope Paul VI made few hours stopover at Dhaka airport in erstwhile East Pakistan on Nov. 26 in 1970, in order to express sympathy for victims of a devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands, on his way to Manila in the Philippines.

Pope John Paul II visited independent Bangladesh on Nov. 19, 1886.

A man of simplicity and humility, Pope Francis beholds a liberal worldview that includes everyone and excludes none.