The Star | The Daily Star
Publish: August 23, 2013
Majoritarian dominance is quite blatant leaving little choice to the ethnic communities except to suffer in silence. Photo: Ananta Yusuf
Cover Story

THE WRATH OF THE MAJORITY

On August 3, life in Taindong, a remote hamlet in Khagrachhari, became a nightmare that would not end. Thirty-five houses were burnt to the crowd, leaving the residents homeless and terrified by this unprovoked act of hatred and racism. According to the victims several members of their community were brutally beaten up by the arsonists - all of them from neighbouring areas, all of them Bangali. Was it just because they were of different communities or was it the land that needed to be grabbed at all cost? the Star talks to the locals of this far away place snuggled deep in the forests of Khagrachhari to unravel the age-old conflict between Bengali settlers who are an overwhelming majority and the small communities of indigenous people.

Taindong and its neighboring three affected unions, which are 70 kilometers away from Khagrachori Sadar can be described in many ways. It is a border area where three unions, home to 38,000 Bengali and a meagre eight thousand indigenous people.

Photo: Prabir Das
Perceptions

Stay in Bangladesh!

I stay in Bangladesh because I find a liberation here I find nowhere else. Freedom must be about more than just comfort, more than just luxury, more than just a late night party with drinks and smokes. It must be

The Cromeleque dos Almendres, in Portuguese, 15 kilometres west of Evora.
Reflections

Returning to Simplicity

Elliptical stones in granite, curved shadows tracing the movement of the sun and parading across the dusty ground, 95 monoliths up to 3.5 metres tall, in concentric circles and first arranged six thousand years before the Christian era: at the

Suleymaniye Mosque
Straight Talk

Turkish Delight

Do you believe in love at first sight? I think I do. From the first day, the first moment, I was enchanted by the Blue of the Bosphorus, touched by the friendliness of the people, and captivated by the vibrancy

A DAY UNDER THE OCEAN
ADVENTURE

A DAY UNDER THE OCEAN

Underwater, a current carried us past the sea lion colony, and as we began to ascend, sunbeams lighted up schools of tropical fish: sergeant majors in their jailhouse stripes, Moorish idols trailing scimitar fins, giant hawkish covered with squiggly Keith

Thimphu city from a mountain peak. Photo: Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan
Travel

The Last Shangri-La

The essence of Himalaya and the charming Tibetan architecture have made Paro International airport more appealing than any other cosmopolitan airports of the world. While catching the scenic beauties, it took only a while to forget the tension of unusual

Artistic Tryst in Tokyo
Art

Artistic Tryst in Tokyo

This was not the first time that artists like Rafiqun Nabi went to Japan—he had been there twice before about 10 years ago. This time however, it was an official visit and a large number of the most renowned artists

The Prime Minister at a cabinet meeting. Photo: PID
Current Affairs

Politics of Mistrust

Bangladesh's politicians don't trust each other, why would the voters trust them?

BNP chief Khaleda Zia expects her party leaders and supporters to follow the footsteps of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) activists who are fighting the law enforcers and are dying for the release and reinstatement of their leader Mohamed Morsi in

Photo: SK Enamul Haq
Impressions

Of Monsoon Ramadan and Eid

When the trolleys came out for the second meal service of the flight to Dhaka, it was early morning (11 July), and the timing was perfect for sehri according to the schedule of Dhaka. Combining the sandwich provided by the

1971 Refugees

Who Dare Calls Us but a Bangalee?

When I Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, aka Begum Rokeya, was doing social work in undivided Bengal in the early 20th century working for gender equality, and when I established the first school for mainly Muslim girls, I was wearing a ghomta.

The Marriage Plot
Musings

The Marriage Plot

Scene One You are in the first year of college. Trying to figure out what life has in store for you. Eager to explore the vast universe of knowledge that college education brings with it. Looking forward to the intelligent

Do You Have Work  “Experience”?
Food for Thought

Do You Have Work “Experience”?

All too often in life, what you have learned through work experience may not be quite what a potential employer has in mind when they ask you about it. I am grateful for having so far led a professional life

Wirte to Mita

Wirte to Mita

Dear Mita, I am a 26-year-old single woman working in a private organisation. I really enjoy my work and am not in a hurry to get married. My parents would like me to tie the knot but at the moment

Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

Star Diary

HAPPINESS She was waiting for her husband along with her children under a banyan tree on a footpath near the Motijheel Government Boys High School. Her face had a gloomy, tensed look on it but that changed when she saw

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
Neighbours

Bhutan’s Transition

In this season of discontent when so many regions of the world are wracked with turmoil and disorder, South Asia has gone through the processes of democratic change in largely orderly fashion. No old-fashioned dictators or hereditary rulers have clung

Photo Courtesy: Sagar Sagir

Letters

The Original Healer I want to thank the Star and the writer for this informative essay on an alternative method of treatment that is both effective and inexpensive. My aunt is 75 years old and had a chronic back pain

Voicebox

Voicebox

“It is The Daily Star! No matter what I say, it will be distorted and that is the character [of the newspaper]……Light rolls into darkness and stars cannot be seen into darkness.” SHEIKH HASINA Prime Minister regarding the Daily Star

The Conspiracy
Cartoon Strip

The Conspiracy

Ashes of Taindong

Ashes of Taindong

Irresistably Ananta
Postscript

Irresistably Ananta

Being depressed these days has become a way of life. In these post-modern times it’s plain unfashionable to be happy and carefree. But depression can be a depressing subject and tends to bring people down in such a way that