Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem

On September 6, I stood in the Jatiya Sangsad chamber with a strip of black cloth tied over my mouth and another over my ears.

There are moments in a parliamentary career that one anticipates: the first speech, the first bill, the first vote. And then there are moments no one prepares you for.

The July National Charter was no party manifesto; it emerged from 11 reform commissions and months of dialogue with about 30 parties.

There is a dangerous tendency in Dhaka’s policy circles to treat conflicts in distant theatres as someone else’s problem. The war involving Iran is the latest test of that complacency—and Bangladesh cannot afford to fail it.