The Star | The Daily Star
Publish: July 12, 2013
Hefazat-e-Islam leaders campaigning for the BNP backed candidates during the Khulna city corporation election. Photo: Rashed Shumon
Cover Story

MIXING RELIGION WITH POLITICS

An otherwise little known group Hefazat-e-Islam has become instrumental in winning election, especially at a time when everyone has thought that secularism in Bangladesh taking a strong foothold. Political use of religion–especially Islam–is back, and it seems to have all the ingredients to turn the nation's politics upside down. Both the major parties are using Islam indiscriminately, setting a dangerous trend for Bangladesh's future polity.

The sun is high up in the sky and Nasir Uddin an octogenarian, in all white, slowly comes down the stairs of Gazipur Hawker Market. As he reaches the footpath, he gets closer to see a journalist interview some ordinary

Biren Shome, Woman, relief print, 2013.
Musings

The Poetry in Women’s Hair

When you speak of women’s hair, you speak of beauty. There is an element of grace in a woman which has generally sprung from the manner in which she uses her hair or arranges it in a way that brings

Photo: Sk Enamul Haq

The Power of Ballots

The voting was over in the afternoon. They were enthusiastic about collecting election results from different polling centres through the polling agents of ruling Awami League-backed mayoral candidate Ajmat Ullah Khan. Local leaders and supporters of AL who gathered at

After Awami League has met its Gazipur
Periscope

After Awami League has met its Gazipur

It was inevitable. After its defeat in four big city corporation elections, ruling Awami League (AL) has been humiliated in Gazipur, otherwise known as its own turf. In the electioneering days, the AL leaders quite vociferously called the city the

Photo: Prabir Das
Heritage

History in Our Hands

Coins of ancient times can be compared to today’s media. An ancient coin can tell you about who was in power during its origination, offering detailed insights about the reign and disposition of the monarch of a particular place. In

Photo: Star File
Impressions

Nano or Mega Tyranny!

I know of one classic case of a ‘blessing in disguise’ sending an ill-fated fugitive to a better life in USA, all because he had fisticuffed a traffic policeman. This is how it happened with a youngster, and happens to

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Travel

Nature’s Exquisite Beauty and Variety

In late-June of this year we traversed by car the beautiful expanse of the landscape in South Dakota and Wyoming in North-Western region of the United States. With its rugged snow-capped mountains, studded by green pine and silvery leaved trees,

The Daily Star and eminent guests honour the unsung heroes of the Liberation War on July 7. Photo: Star File
Tribute

The Patriots in the Shadows

If you are a Mahali, you can still hear Rebati’s screams echoing in the hills of Khadim tea garden in Sylhet, forty-two years after she sacrificed her life for the freedom of her motherland. Liberation War researcher Lt Col (retd)

Nature with woman, etching, 1979.
Art

Simplicity Plus

Biren Shome, who has been winning art-lover’s hearts since the early 70s, has now come up with a breathless collection at Dhaka Art Centre till July 24. As a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts, DU, he studied under

Photo: Prabir Das
Sci-Tech

Digital Addiction

A local mobile operator recently launched what it says is the world’s fastest wireless network. The new technology, named LTE-Advanced, has been touted as being able to download data at speeds twice as fast as existing LTE networks and 10

Susan Cain, author of 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking'.
PERSPECTIVE

Introvert in Wonderland

I can’t, for the life of me, make small talk. And it hinders my social life, earns me labels of ‘socially-awkward’, ‘culturally-backward’ and inundates me in advice about dating, pop-culture and conversation-starters. I take it all in before retiring to

It’s Not Just a Piece of  Paper; It’s the Writer’s Mind
Reflections

It’s Not Just a Piece of Paper; It’s the Writer’s Mind

What is it that drives people to write? Perhaps a visceral, instinctive amusement that comes from a sense of accomplishment. Or maybe because writing is undeniably an inalienable aspect of our daily life. When we try to suppress down our

Photo: Star File

Star Diary

Commercialisation of Eid As the year progresses towards the festival of Eid, the whole country begins to light up with excitement and expectations. Apart from shopping malls and individual stores, small home boutiques are also quite in demand during Eid.

World Literature Today
Published by University of Oaklahoma, Norman
Pages:80
Book Review

A Rich Revelation

Even if you’re not necessarily in the privileged group labelled litterateurs but have a weakness for literature anyway, the World Literature Today is something you should get your hands on. The latest issue of this elegant literary journal, published bimonthly

(Misplaced) Pride and (Outdated) Prejudice
Food for Thought

(Misplaced) Pride and (Outdated) Prejudice

I recently came across an article that made me think of the author Jules Verne’s assertion that “reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” Given the fantastic stories that Verne himself came

No Caste  Outcasts
Writing the Wrong

No Caste Outcasts

The British during the Raj had a penchant for taxonimizing—that is putting things in their proper classification, with their proper labels.  It kept things neat and orderly. There is still evidence of the British presence throughout the region of South

Voicebox

“People have defeated the government by 5-0 goals in the city corporation elections. We’ll be able to defeat it by more goals if we can maintain our unity.” KHALEDA ZIA Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) talking about the

Chintito

Democracy: implements and impediments

It is now half well established that credible local elections can be held under this Awami League government, given that the opposition (BNP-Jamaat)-backed candidates have won handsomely in five major city corporations elections over the past month. For the other

The conspiracy

The conspiracy

Letter

Freelancing: Jobs Without Borders

I would like to thank the writer for writing such an informative essay on freelancing. Unlike many other articles on freelancing, this one actually tells us how to become a freelancer.  It may help a lot of people to find

TRUMB CARD?

TRUMB CARD?

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
Postscript

All things Strange and Beautiful

It is a widely held belief that going to university is the key to a successful, financially stable life which is why parents spend many sleepless nights wondering if their offspring will make it to college. Traditionally students opt for