The latest conflict between Israel and Palestine is a stark reminder that peace remains very much elusive in the region, and so does the two-state solution. The recent escalation in violence took place against the backdrop of forced evictions of Palestinian families from the occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli raids in Al-Aqsa Mosque compounds. The
Against the backdrop of a stalled global vaccination campaign, the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe. As infection rates and death toll continue to mount, countries like India, which largely escaped the first wave of the pandemic, face a total collapse of their healthcare system. Meanwhile, the virus continues to mutate, spawning more
The immediate goal should be to give people back their right to free speech. The regime and its draconian anti-free speech laws have already turned Bangladesh into a gigantic prison. As inmates, why then should we remain fearful of the prison cell? If we all speak out loud, the echoes of our voice are bound
After his death, prison authorities described Mushtaq as an honest and decent person. That this admission came after his death shows how nobody’s life in Bangladesh is more at risk than those of Mushtaq’s ilk because nobody in Bangladesh feels more threatened by them than the prime minister and her men. Even though Bangladeshi
When a publisher no longer faces any censorship in republishing Avijit Roy’s work; when the book vendors no longer dare to stop selling Avijit’s books; when government officials no longer blame martyred writers and publishers for their tragic demise; when journalists no longer face intimidation, when cartoonists no longer have to languish in jail for
It was in March 1953, the heyday of the Khatam-i Nubuwwat movement, when after weeks of turmoil the regional government of Punjab finally collapsed, as many supporters of Pakistan’s ruling party, the Muslim League, joined the ranks of rioters responding to the government’s reluctance in declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslim by burning down government establishments, looting
