Oorbee Shom is a renowned Nazrul Sangeet and classical music artist and teacher. As a former student of Government Music College, she completed her B. Music and M. Music in Nazrul Sangeet from the same institution, securing first class in M. Music. She is currently teaching at Government Music College.
In the last week of June 1974, Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto visited Dhaka. Although visiting the Savar National Memorial was part of the official protocol, Bhutto initially expressed his unwillingness to go there. However, under the firm insistence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bhutto was compelled to visit the memorial to pay tribute to those who had been martyred in 1971. Yet the shrewd Bhutto did not go to the memorial in formal attire; he went wearing a T-shirt and a golf cap. He objected to the playing of a bugle, the laying of wreaths and a gun salute.
As the Fourth Estate, the press and news media carry an immense responsibility. The media not only presents events before readers objectively, but can also play a major role in shaping public opinion during movements, struggles and critical moments by taking a principled moral position. At times, the media itself becomes the voice of the people.
After a record 82-day wait, the results of this year’s SSC and equivalent examinations have finally been published. The combined pass rate across all education boards stands at 62 per cent. Of nearly 1.8 million candidates, just over 1.1 million passed. In terms of the SSC results, this is the lowest pass rate in the past 20 years. Compared with 2021, the rate is 31 percentage points lower.
Rarely has world football witnessed a scene quite like this: FIFA’s president facing an open vote of no confidence from three of his own vice-presidents, with the dispute escalating to discussions about an alternative tournament to the World Cup.
The High Court Division of the Supreme Court has set a record by disposing of over 58,000 old criminal miscellaneous and writ petitions in just 11 working days through a special initiative. The case backlog and the long wait for justice have long been a reality of Bangladesh's judicial system, but this special drive has brought a remarkable change.
The desert burned beneath a blazing mid-summer sun. It hung overhead like an enormous ball of fire, as though it could scorch everything in sight into ashes. In every direction stretched endless grey sand, shimmering under the relentless heat. There were no trees, no shade, no homes—nothing to suggest that life had ever existed there. Far ahead, a glimmer on the horizon promised water. But the closer one walked, the clearer it became that it was nothing more than another trick of the desert, another ribbon of sand masquerading as hope.
The government is set to enact a comprehensive law soon to recognize enforced disappearance as a distinct criminal offence and to ensure protection, justice, and compensation for victims and their families. The draft Prevention and Remedies for Enforced Disappearance Act, 2026 proposes life imprisonment and fines as the maximum punishment for enforced disappearance. It also provides for the death penalty in cases where the victim dies as a result of the disappearance, the body is recovered, or the missing person remains untraced even after five years.
Ongoing measles outbreak across the country has exposed the urgent need for child-friendly urban and regional planning, according to the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP).
The most powerful trading nation is flouting the core principles of the multilateral trade arrangement that has been in place under the GATT and now under the World Trade Organization (WTO) for decades. The arbitrary and capricious tariff actions of the Trump Administration violate the core principle of Most Favored Nation (MFN).
Twenty murder cases filed over the deaths of 44 police personnel during the violence that accompanied the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement in July and August 2024 have effectively remained dormant for more than a year.
Two years after 15 policemen were bludgeoned to death by anti-government protesters at Enayetpur Police Station, the screams of that afternoon still echo for those who witnessed it. An elderly woman living directly behind the station in Sirajganj says she still hears the cries of dying officers in her sleep. Her seven- and eight-year-old granddaughters wake up screaming "save me, save me, I'm dying" in the middle of the night, unable to shake the trauma of what they saw.