Whistleblowing as a Civic Duty: Upholding Mukit’s Stand for Integrity

Robi Das 18 July 2025

In Bangladesh today, speaking truth to power can feel like standing alone in a storm. Mukit’s stand reminds us that every citizen carries the power—and responsibility—to safeguard the common good. It’s on us, as a society and as a government, to ensure that when conscience strikes, it finds not chains, but open doors and a grateful nation.

18 July 2025

In Bangladesh today, speaking truth to power can feel like standing alone in a storm. Mukit chose that storm. When he exposed misuse of public resources within a government institution, he did more than bare corruption—he performed an act of public service. What Did Mukit Do: Mukitul Hasan, Second Secretary at the Customs Policy Wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), has been suspended for allegedly leaking a classified state document. The leaked material pertained to sensitive tariff negotiations between Bangladesh and the United States, which were protected under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The breach was considered a serious violation of official discipline, especially given Hasan’s direct involvement in the negotiation process. A Bengali-language media outlet had published a report based on the leaked document, which was later withdrawn. In response, the NBR filed a case and issued the suspension order, signed by Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan. Separately, M Zillur Rahman, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Cell,

was also suspended for publicly tearing his transfer order, alongside 14 other officials facing similar disciplinary action. Mukit’s Courage and Its Costs Mukit’s decision to disclose wrongdoing wasn’t born of personal vendetta. He witnessed funds diverted from essential healthcare projects and watched promises to the poorest slip away. By going public, he risked career derailment, social ostracism, and even legal harassment under outdated secrecy laws. Yet Mukit’s bravery shines as a beacon: it reminds us that transparency isn’t optional. It’s the lifeblood of democracy and trust. The Legal Shield in Bangladesh The Public Interest Information Disclosure (Provide Protection) Act of 2011 was designed precisely for voices like Mukit’s: Legal Immunity: He cannot face criminal, civil, or departmental action for revealing truthful, public-interest information. Confidentiality: His identity is protected unless he opts into disclosure. Protection from Retaliation: Demotion, forced retirement, harassment—all barred if he’s a government employee. Evidence Shielding: Disclosures can’t be used against him in proceedings unless found maliciously false. …

Analysis, Bangladesh, Opinion

Rampant destruction of sculpture since so-called ‘July Revolution’: What a savage nation we are becoming!

Shweta Irina 14 July 2025

Actually, how much civilized is a nation can be well measured by its intellectual properties as reflected through literature and culture, music and poetry, paintings and sculpture. Every nation which is a connoisseur of paintings and sculpture, protects its heritage with utmost efforts and their celebrated painters or sculptors are recollected through ‘larger than life’ novels and movies. The author narrates the curious case of Bangladesh after the color revolution of 2024.

14 July 2025

Destruction of Bangabandhu's sculpture 'Mrityunjaya' at Bijoy Sarani

‘সুতনুকা নাম দেবদাসিকী তং কাময়িথ বালানশেয়ে দেবদিন্নে নাম লুপদকখে!’ “Sutanuka by name, Devadasi. The excellent among young men loved her, Devadinna by name, skilled in sculpture" is the translation of the aforementioned line in the Magadhi Prakrita language of the ancient age India and inscribed upon the sculpture of a temple-based artist (in terms of singing and dancing) cum courtesan. Once celebrated Bengali novelist Narayan Sanyal, who is still evaluated within the critics, had authored a complete novel (সুতনুকা একটি দেবদাসীর নাম) on basis of this one single line inscription on the sculpture in the cave temple of Ramgarh mountain in Madhya Pradesh, India. A more loose and easily comprehensible Bengali translation of this line in Magadhi Prakrita goes on like: 'সুতনুকা নামে এক দেবদাসী, তাহারে ভালবাসিয়াছিল/ দেবদিন্নে নামে এক রূপদক্ষ। ’Generally the sculptors were termed as ‘রূপদক্ষ’ in Sanskrit which reads as ‘লুপদকখে’ in Magadhi Prakrita and ‘ভাস্কর’ in Bengali. Michelangelo Buonarotti, one of the greatest sculptors of all

ages, thus depicted his perception about sculpting: ‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.’ The creator of ‘David,’ ‘Pieta,’ ‘Sistine Chapel’ and so many other monumental art-works further narrated sculpting as ‘In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.’ Actually, how much civilized is a nation can be well measured by its intellectual properties as reflected through literature and culture, music and poetry, paintings and sculpture. Every nation which is a connoisseur of paintings and sculpture, protects its heritage with utmost efforts and their celebrated painters or sculptors are recollected through ‘larger than life’ novels and movies. Remember how Akira Kurosawa paid his tribute to Vincent Van Gogh in one of his…

Analysis, Bangladesh, China, Current Affairs, India, Myanmar, Proxy War, USA, War

The Corridor of Complicity: Bangladesh at the Edge of a Proxy War

Iconus Clustus 9 May 2025

In the shadow of Myanmar’s civil conflict and the ongoing humanitarian tragedy of the Rohingya, a new geopolitical proposition emerges: the creation of a humanitarian corridor through Bangladesh. While clothed in the language of compassion, this proposition is anything but innocent. This piece examines the philosophical and ethical stakes of such a corridor, the actors involved—state and non-state, regional and global—and the legitimacy crisis of Bangladesh's interim regime. It warns that the corridor risks becoming a conduit for proxy warfare, drawing Bangladesh into a dangerous entanglement, compromising its moral identity and national sovereignty.

9 May 2025

1. Setting the Stage: The Specter of the Corridor The emergence of a proposed "humanitarian corridor" connecting the Arakan region of Myanmar to the outside world through Bangladesh is not an isolated gesture of international goodwill. Instead, it harks back to historical precedents where similar rhetoric masked hard geopolitical motives. Corridors have often functioned as the thin edge of interventionist wedges, paving the way for foreign involvement, regime change, or the legitimization of proxy actors. In this context, the corridor risks becoming a gateway for U.S.-led strategic penetration, not just into Myanmar, but into the heart of South Asian balance. The alignment of the corridor with insurgent activity and covert arms movement under the guise of humanitarianism bears striking resemblance to past interventions in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. 2. An Illegitimate Regime, An Unrepresentative Gamble At the heart of this unfolding dilemma lies Bangladesh – a nation whose current government holds no electoral mandate. The Yunus-led interim regime, installed following

the ousting of the elected government, lacks constitutional legitimacy. It neither represents the will of the people nor adheres to the foundational principles upon which Bangladesh was founded. Any decision it takes, especially those with massive geopolitical and ethical consequences, must be questioned not only for their outcomes but for the very authority under which they are made. The regime’s submission to U.S. designs casts a long shadow on national sovereignty, one that cannot be overlooked or excused. 3. The Chorus of Actors: State and Non-State Entanglements The scenario brings together a complex cast of actors: the United States with its strategic doctrines; China, wary and watchful; Myanmar, whose sovereignty is directly endangered; the Arakan Army (AA), a non-state military actor now courted by Western support; India, in whose backyard the entire drama is being played out; and Bangladesh, which finds itself caught in a web of foreign interests and domestic instability. Crucially, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), another…

Analysis, Bangladesh, Current Affairs, India, Opinion, Pakistan, Politics, Secularism, War

A Region Unravels: From the Indus to the Bay of Bengal, the Secular Order Faces Its Greatest Test

Iconus Clustus 25 April 2025

The Indus Treaty has collapsed. The Shimla Agreement lies suspended. From Pakistan’s proxy warfare to Bangladesh’s creeping Islamism and great power maneuvering, South Asia is entering not just a geopolitical spiral—but a civilizational eclipse. What we’re witnessing is the slow disintegration of the pluralist soul that once defined this region.

25 April 2025

I. Introduction: The Breaking of a Compact When India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty following the terror attack in Pahalgam—carried out by The Resistance Front (TRF), a group with clear operational and ideological ties to Pakistan's deep state—it did more than nullify a water-sharing agreement. It shattered one of the few remaining symbols of post-Partition cooperation between the two nuclear-armed rivals. For decades, the treaty withstood wars, diplomatic breakdowns, and public rage. That it should now collapse in response to yet another incident of state-proxied terror speaks volumes—not only about India’s strategic posture but about the region’s crumbling secular compact. Now, that compact has fractured even further. In a retaliatory gesture of its own, Pakistan has suspended the Shimla Agreement (1972)—a foundational accord that once governed diplomatic protocols, bilateralism, and conflict resolution between India and Pakistan. If the Indus Waters Treaty was the hydrological pillar of cooperation, the Shimla Agreement was its diplomatic spine. Together, these two treaties formed the

last architecture of mutual restraint between nuclear neighbors. Their dual collapse signals a freefall into a pre-1970s strategic environment—one where war, not negotiation, is again the default setting. However, to treat the Treaty’s dissolution as a bilateral escalation alone would be myopic. It is better understood as the tremor before a regional quake. From the Indus in the West to the Bay of Bengal in the East, a new geopolitical alignment is taking shape—an alignment that threatens to undo the fragile, secular, and postcolonial order that had once offered a vision of stability. Across South Asia, terror proxies are resurgent, Islamist politics is infiltrating interim governments, and foreign powers are circling zones of instability under the guise of humanitarian concern. India, at the heart of it all, finds itself in a two-front dilemma. In the West, Pakistan continues to serve as an incubator for transnational jihadist ambitions. In the East, Bangladesh’s descent into political instability and Islamist resurgence—combined with creeping…

Analysis, Minority Rights, Opinion

Persecution against Dissenters and Minorities in Bangladesh

Robi Das 31 March 2025

Yunus regime is persecuting dissenters and minorities in Bangladesh. Prominent human rights activists and journalists are either in prison in baseless cases or silent due to baseless cases filed against them. We need to fight for those whose rights are violated in Bangladesh.

31 March 2025

The rate of persecution against dissenters and minorities has increased in Bangladesh since August 5 2024. Between 5 and 8 August, it was the Islamic terrorists and fundamentalists with the support of right-wing political forces, e.g. Jamat-e-Islami, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Hefazat-e-Islam etc., who targeted dissenters and minorities all over Bangladesh. After August 8, the interim government also joined the band and weaponized law enforcing agencies and judiciary to arrest more than a hundred thousand dissenters in thousands of baseless cases citing murder, torture, blasphemy and sedition charges. The current Yunus government’s primary targets are authors, filmmakers, journalists, lawyers, activists, secularists, human rights defenders and pro-liberation people. These people have dissented from the ideology of the anti-liberation and pro-Islamist right-wing forces, which the Yunus government is promoting now. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council is one of the few human rights organizations that raised the red flag regarding the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in the name of attacking political opponents.

Advocate Rana Das Gupta, a human rights defender and General Secretary of the organization, stated in a press release dated September 19, 2024, that nearly 2010 violent incidents took place targeting religious and ethnic minorities between August 4 and August 20. However, the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) reported that the real numbers are much higher and remain unreported (HRCBM, 2024). The government denied these numbers, and without proper investigation, they claim these reports are baseless. After the first report, Das Gupta found that he was named as accused in three (3) cases on baseless murder charges. Advocate Gupta was not the only one. Chinmoy Krishna Das, a monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also raised his voice against the minority persecution. He demanded the immediate establishment of the Minority Rights Commission, the Ministry for Minority Affairs, the enactment of the Protection of Minority Act, etc. He was critical of the government’s denial of ongoing…