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

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…

Is Freedom Of Expression Worsening In Bangladesh?

Freedom of expression in Bangladesh has been a constant feature of our nation’s recent political history. In the recent past, the global media and organizations at the national front, as well as in the international arena are agog on the…

Adivasis Drowning In Abject Poverty

A rosy picture of national ethnic people dancing and singing adorned in traditional ethnic dress in most national events, cultural programmes on state-run television, Pahari (hill people) ethnic food festivals and recruitment in government jobs is not the true story…

1 2