Faisal Mahmud

Is the Dhaka Lit Fest failing Bangladesh’s writing community?

Attended by Nobel Laureates and Booker winners, the South Asian nation’s biggest literary event faces allegations of denying space to critics of the Sheikh Hasina government.

Flawed taxation puts Bangladesh among largest tobacco-consuming nations

The country aspires to become tobacco free by 2040 – but to achieve that goal 37.8 million Bangladeshis will have to quit smoking or consuming tobacco products.

'A ruby that lights up the dark': Bangladesh’s only handwritten newspaper

The newspaper focuses on the stories of hope – from reporting on the boom in yearly crop yield to someone buying a cow.

Proposed law threatens to turn Bangladesh into 'surveillance state'

Sheikh Hasina's government is facing criticism for introducing a law that curbs the press freedom and targets individuals for posting content contradicting her party's political agenda.

Did US sanctions lead to death penalty to two Bangladesh cops?

Doubts remain over Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government’s sincerity in cleaning up the country’s notorious police force.

How Bangladesh police are hounding families of ‘enforced disappearances’

Accused of abductions and extrajudicial killings, the South Asian nation’s law enforcement agencies are intimidating families into retracting statements.

Pakistan's flag, cricket jersey unmasked Bangladesh’s growing jingoism

For Bangladesh's ruling party, the "more you hate Pakistan, the more you will love Bangladesh."

Bangladesh’s ruling party to unleash online army to 'stifle' opposition

Under the garb of countering "fake news" on social media, critics say the ruling Awami League seeks to stifle and criminalise voices critical of the government.

Bollywood director sued for 'dishonouring' Bangladesh's terror victims

The kin of Holey Artisan terror attack victims slammed filmmaker Hansal Mehta for not seeking their consent before shooting the movie.

Bangladesh on high alert for its citizens illegally 'entering' Afghanistan

The country's security agencies have issued warnings that many extremists from the country have left for Kabul to offer services to the Taliban regime for 'nation building'.

Online cattle marketplaces are gaining popularity in Bangladesh

The coronavirus pandemic has helped online cattle stores increase sales not only during the festival of Eid al Adha but on other occasions too.

A Muslim convert's killing exposes Bangladesh's ethnic fault lines

The victim had converted from Hinduism to Islam in a remote tribal region where ethnic insurgency continues to smoulder in light of Bangladesh's majoritarian politics.