Counterpoint

Bangladesh First and the New Balancing Act

Afia Ibnat

Tarique Rahman’s expected Malaysia-China sequence is a necessary correction to an India-centric past. Malaysia gives the visit diplomatic balance and China gives it strategic weight. But the correction will only succeed if it produces a wider foreign-policy basket without chipping away at Bangladesh’s sovereign decision-making space.

Policy as Experiment

Syed Akhtar Mahmood

The most successful developmental states were not necessarily those that possessed perfect knowledge from the outset. Rather, they were states capable of learning rapidly, adjusting policies pragmatically, and building institutional memory over time.

Bangladeshi Chicken Farmers are About to get Slaughtered

Kazi Zahin Hasan

The ART agreement is against the interest of tens of thousands of families in Bangladesh whose livelihood depends on chicken farming. It is shocking that the interim government signed this agreement without consulting representatives of the poultry industry.

Modi's Demography Mission is Yet Another Hindutva Gimmick

Partha Ghosh

The clearest sign of gimmickry behind the so-called mission to control Bangladeshi immigrants is that the government has appointed a non-demographer to head an exercise on demographic change.

West Bengal, A Month Later: It's Time to Get Real

Jawhar Sircar

It has been exactly a month since the BJP emerged the winner in the Bengal assembly elections. Some changes are more visible than others.

A Monopoly on Violence

M A Hossain

Sovereignty is not maintained by lines drawn on a map or by seats held at the United Nations. It is maintained by the absolute certainty that if you attack the forces of the state, the state will break you.

Why Bangladesh Must Build, Not Just Code

Arifuzzaman Khan

The foundations of a prosperous nation are not built in the cloud. They are built on the ground, in plants and workshops and export zones, by people who make things the world needs. It is past time to look down from the screen and begin.

Shifting Gear on the Economy

Jyoti Rahman

What good economic policies actually look like -- and how to tell when they are missing

A Dangerous Corporate Trend

Tashzid Reza

Corporate success is increasingly measured by size rather than substance.

Our Moral Compass in Ruins

Shahed Iqbal

It should be the topmost priority of any government to ensure that our education system is running independently with the most competent and scholarly educators.

A State Within a State

Minhazul Abedin Rahat

The political cost of holding Salimpur is carried by whichever party is in power. But the failure is not new. The Awami League, the interim government, and the current administration have all inherited and repeated the same failure. In that sense, it is the same failure under three different governments.

How Abuse is Normalized

Md. Abrar Galib

We owe our daughters, sons and every future generation something better than inherited shame. We owe them safety. We owe them dignity. Let silence end where abuse begins, on our screens and in our streets; through words that challenge, actions that protect, and a resolve that no longer looks away.

The Silent Threat Beneath Hormuz

Syed Misbah Uddin Ahmad (Retd)

The Strait of Hormuz is more than a regional flashpoint; it is the definitive laboratory for the 21st century maritime warfare.

What Does Dr. Khalil's Victory Mean for Bangladesh?

Ashraf Ud Doula

At a time when Bangladesh has often found itself on the defensive internationally, this victory offers a welcome opportunity for national confidence and unity.

The Cat Who Wasn't Impressed

Zakir Kibria

The images of her with the cat and the milk aren't just pictures. They are a manifesto for a very specific kind of dignified living -- a life where glamour and domestic intimacy sit side-by-side, looking off into the middle distance, accepting the world exactly as it is.

The Green Blueprint

Faysal Kabir Shuvo

Let us move beyond the annual rhetoric of a single calendar day. Let us embed environmental resilience into the DNA of our national growth, ensuring a safe, prosperous, and liveable homeland for generations to come.

The Distance Between the Page and the Street

Mohammad A. Rab

Bangladesh’s future depends not just on dismantling authoritarian systems, but on building institutions resilient enough to safeguard rights, mediate conflict, and hold power, whoever holds it, accountable.

Time to Add Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity to the List

Riaz Osmani

If a hostile landlord evicts us from our rented housing, or if an institution terminates our employment based on proven discrimination, we will be able look toward our Constitution with hope for reassurance and justice.

The Assassination of Ziaur Rahman and its Echoes

Ehteshamul Haque

Ziaur Rahman deserves to be remembered not as a symbol of one side of a political divide, but as a leader who, in a period of genuine national crisis, demonstrated that Bangladesh was capable of stability, economic progress, diplomatic sophistication, and democratic aspiration.

Rewriting the Narrative? RAB’s Conduct in a Nation on Edge

Mirza R. Ahmad

In July 2024, when the entire country erupted in protest, when over 1,400 lives were lost, and when Dhaka became a city under siege, RAB did not revert to familiar patterns. They did not conduct midnight raids. They did not trigger mass disappearances. Instead, they acted as a containment force. That contrast is not just noteworthy, it is historic.

Three Million or Three Hundred Thousand?

Serajul I. Bhuiyan

Seeking a clearer understanding of history does not diminish the legacy of the Liberation War, but honors it more completely. A nation willing to examine its past with honesty shows confidence in its own story.

Is a Second BNP Term in the Bag? Not So Fast.

Faisal Mahmud

Yes, economists may envy physicists and political scientists may envy economists. But, here, in a place as fluid and unpredictable as Bangladesh, there are moments when even the most elegant model benefits from being challenged by a journalist's imperfect, half-cooked antithesis.

The Rise of India’s Cockroach Janta Party

Arifur Rahaman

Gen Z is winning the internet through a combination of genuine grievance, cultural fluency, and the particular humor of people who have been told they are useless and decided to make art out of it.

America's Unfinished Business in Cuba

M A Hossain

Whether this moment produces genuine Cuban freedom or merely a new form of managed dependency will depend entirely on whether Washington wants a democratic Cuba or simply a compliant one. Those are very different objectives. And so far, the evidence suggests Washington hasn't quite decided which it's actually after.

Banking Crisis and Private Power

Jamil Iqbal

This piece talks about how bad loans, political patronage, and cosmetic accounting turned Bangladesh’s banks into a public crisis.

The Miracle and the Squeeze

Jamil Iqbal

This first article in a three-part series argues that Bangladesh’s celebrated growth story was always more fragile than it looked. Now that growth is slowing and investment is yielding less, the hidden costs of that model are becoming harder to ignore.

Capital Flight, Inequality, and Who Pays

Jamil Iqbal

This third article in a three-part series argues how wealth leaves the country, why the gains of growth narrow at the top, and what a fairer settlement would actually require.

The Identity Crisis of Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh

Selim Raihan

Ultimately, the challenge is not to choose between being Bengali and being Muslim. The real challenge is to recognize that both identities can co-exist within a broader vision of a democratic, pluralistic, and self-confident society.

Time for Industry and Academia to Read from the Same Playbook

Imran Rahman

There is a real gap between what universities teach, how students learn, and what employers increasingly need.

Why the World Watches but Rarely Acts

H.M. Nazmul Alam

The systems that govern the world are powerful, but they are not immutable. They derive their strength, in part, from acceptance, from the belief that they cannot be altered.

The J-Z Show| Episode 21

Zafar Sobhan

Jon Danilowicz and Zafar Sobhan discuss the IMF–World Bank Spring Meetings, global and domestic political developments, and the wider implications of conflict—from historical reflections on war to the current tensions surrounding Iran.

The J-Z Show| Episode 20. Ceasefire

Zafar Sobhan

In this episode of “The J-Z Show,” hosts John Danilowicz and Zafar Sobhan examine the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran—and the fragile ceasefire currently at risk.

The J Z Show। Ep 19: Bangladesh's Post-Election Landscape and Regional Cooperation

Zafar Sobhan

Counterpoint Generations | Ep 10

Zafar Sobhan

In Episode 10 of Counterpoint Generations, Zafar Sobhan and Professor Rehman Sobhan examine a range of pressing legal and political developments shaping Bangladesh today.

Counterpoint Generations | Ep 9

Zafar Sobhan

Episode 9 of Counterpoint Generations reflects on the immediate post-election landscape, examining voter participation, the formation of the new cabinet, and the institutional challenges facing the incoming government as parliament prepares to begin its term.

Counterpoint Generations | Ep 8

Zafar Sobhan

In Episode 8 of Counterpoint Generations, the discussion explores Bangladesh’s electoral journey from the 1970 election to the present, examining how voting behaviour, political participation, and institutions have evolved over time. The episode also addresses contemporary questions around minority voting patterns, and why opinion polls often fail to predict real outcomes. A reflective conversation on elections, uncertainty, and democratic change.