Editorial

MNA Editorial Desk: Bangladesh capital megacity Dhaka has a rich ancient, historic background dating back to the 7th century. It was initially part of the Kamarupa kimgdom, then ruled by Hemanta Sen of Sen dynasty in the 9th century. From 1608 onwards, Dhaka was successively ruled by the Turkic and Afghan governors hailing from the Delhi Sultanate. During the Mughal Empire the then capital was moved from Rajmahal to Dhaka and named after Emperor Jahangir. During the Mughal period, Dhaka turned into the major commercial emporium which encouraged a much higher concentration of trade, business and commerce along with spread ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Dhaka city population, currently estimated at nearly 19 million, is larger than that of 174 countries of the world and traffic jam is undoubtedly the biggest hassle for Dhaka dwellers. It is hurting our health, mentality, financial position and the country’s economy. We are losing USD 336 mln every year in loss of fuel cost due to the slow traffic movement. With such a large population, Bangladesh government needs to adopt highly focused planning and actions to eliminate the traffic jam from this growing megacity. If we ask the citizens about the most disturbing thing in Dhaka ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Dhaka citizens have become prone to various food related diseases in past few decades. They are exposed to outside foods to some extents and hygiene and purity of those are ever under questions. Along with urbanization, greater numbers of people are working at offices and are bound to take foods outside. There are thousands of hotels and restaurants along with so many open food shops. With so much dust and germs in Dhaka’s environment along with inadequate availability of clean drinking water, diseases derived from foods are increasing everyday. One of our major costs today is the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Everyday life of city dwellers especially in the Dhaka city has become full of chaos, Along with several hazards like intolerable traffic jam, extreme air pollution and water pollution; sound pollution has also become a major problem of living in the prominent cities. We are surrounded with waves of  harmful sounds whenever we step out of homes. We are not even safe from sound pollution inside our homes as noise from different sources keeps creeping in. However, most people are unaware of the consequences of being exposed to sound pollution, as they are in the cases of ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Pope Francis, religious leader of 1.2 billion Catholics all around the world, is scheduled to visit Bangladesh from November 30 to December 2, 2017. Before arriving in Bangladesh, he will visit Myanmar from November 27 to 30. His program was declared in late August of this year. He will be the second pope to visit Bangladesh after Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1986. Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario has labelled the visit of Pope Francis as the ‘blessing from God’ as 3,75,000 Catholics of Bangladesh will get the opportunity to feel the presence of their religious leader alongside ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Rain is supposed to be a blessing but it turned into a curse for the citizens of Dhaka in recent years. Even a little rain floods the streets causing tremendous hassle and hazard for them. It seems like there is no drainage system in Dhaka city and the water has nowhere to move. Moreover, the waste materials and sewerage water mixing with this logged water create serious health risks. This year, the monsoon has stayed for a long time giving a vibe of climate change in Bangladesh as well as in our neighbouring countries also. The people ...

MNA Editorial Desk: We always judge a person by manners whenever we meet him first. The character of a man is portrayed by the manners he conveys during interaction with another human being. We often think of a person good or bad only considering his manners though he might be just opposite of that by heart. Not only in the view of a personal interaction rather in every aspect of societal, communal, national, political or professional interaction, we must nurture manners so that, we convey a good message to our audience from every angle. But, it is very regretful that, ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Most of us call the politics in Bangladesh very dirty now-a-days. We often hear that, the gentlemen do not get involved in politics. This is because of the tendency of throwing darts at each other which has become the characteristics of Bangladeshi politics in recent years. The ruling party and the opposition parties several times got into the acts of demeaning each other by calling bad names and unconstructively criticizing one another. It is required to practice constructive evaluation of the activities of the government or the opposition — but if something good does not come out ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Despite growing international concern and expression of sympathy, the Rohingya is fleeing to Bangladesh to escape military crackdown in Myanmar. Their number has already swelled to more than 500,000 in less than two months, and is rising by leaps and bounds everyday as the Myanmar army continues the ‘ethnic cleansing’ drive to push all the Rohingya Muslims from their country. Meanwhile, Bangladesh suffers the brunt of the military’s brutality in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar as the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has provided shelter for the refugees and piling up food and medical support for them with ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Bangladesh is a land of diversity and equality. Constitutionally secular, it is diverse in terms of religion, ethnicity and language of its citizens. In spite of that, communal harmony does prevail in every aspect of our country. There are people from different religions and groups which constitute the 160 million population of Bangladesh. Muslims being the largest with over 90 percent of the total population, here also live the Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and also some people from other faiths. Underlying difference exists in terms of ethnicity and language but that does not impede peaceful cohabitation. The tribal ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Throughout the world, we find brutal pictures of communal violence for decades. Wars are going on at different parts of the earth with loads of hatred and ill feelings towards the people representing different communities, religion or ethnicity. The root cause of all wars being fought around the world is caused by either economic interest or communal difference. In recent times, we have seen Myanmar to get engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingyas of its Rakhine state. Thousands of innocent men, women and children are being killed; women are getting raped; houses are being burnt and all ...

MNA Feature Desk: Today is the 71st birthday of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She was born on September 28, 1947. Eldest daughter of the greatest Bengali of all times, nation’s father Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina is the three time’s Prime Minister of Bangladesh today. Due to her tireless and relentless efforts, Bangladesh is at the door of becoming a middle income country after overcoming so many obstacles. With grief of losing her family from inhuman and barbaric killings, she returned to Bangladesh from deportation ignoring dictator’s bloody-eyes on May 17, 1981. Beside adverse political, social and economic ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Today (Thursday), 28 September, marks the 71st birthday of prime minister and Bangladesh Awami League president Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Hasina, the eldest of the five children of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Begum Fazilatunnesa, was born at Tungipara of Gopalganj in the then Faridpur district on this day in 1947. Awami League and its affiliated organizations are scheduled to be celebrating the day through organising various humanitarian events and activities and discussions on the life and achievements of Sheikh Hasina. There will also be cultural events and milad and doa mahfils in the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Myanmar’s State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi, previously known as democracy leader in the years of oppressive military rule in her country, and winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has now become assn icon of hatred due to her approval and pursuance of one of history’s worst genocides against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh. Since August 25 this year around half a million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh to save their lives from atrocities of Myanmar military and fundamentalist Buddhists who killed thousands of men, raped scores of women, beheaded ...

MNA Editorial Desk: As the Rohingya crisis escalates into an unfolding tragedy, the United Nations appealed to the global community to support the ongoing humanitarian efforts for the refugees “regardless of politics”. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report, nearly 90,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh in last 11 days. Besides, many people drowned in Naf River while crossing the border. But this is very pathetic that, there is no visible protest in international arena over the ongoing brutal incidents in Myanmar. Giving only statements, the international community ended their tasks in this regard. About 55 dead ...

MNA Editorial Desk: In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it wished “to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means”. 26 years later, the Rohingyas as well as many people around the world would disagree with the trusting assessment of the committee. Expectations from Suu Kyi to take a firm stand on the Rohingya situation increased when on October 9, 2016, in an attack ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Myanmar is carrying out genocide against its 1.3 million Rohingya Muslim population – one that is being ignored, in the most part, by the international community, despite acknowledgement by the United Nations that mass killings, torture, gang rapes and forced deportations are occurring. The Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless community and of one of its most victimized minorities. Using a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Sunni Muslims are loathed by many in majority-Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them ‘Bengali’ – even though many have lived ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Since early sixties of the last century Bangladesh has accepted different kinds of measures for flood management with mixed practices. Rapid population growth generates extra pressure on the land of already congested Bangladesh.  Agricultural lands give way to housing growths and roads. This rapid improvement and urbanization must have serious the flooding problem in Bangladesh. Though forewarnings for the floods had been made well in advance this year, but the government hasn’t been adequately prepared to tackle the disaster. According to government data, so far the number of flood-affected persons is 5.7 million. But even after tripling ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Undoubtedly, Bangladesh has achieved a massive revolution in political and economic sectors and the government has also taken several initiatives to be a developed country by 2041. The present government of Sheikh Hasina under the ruling of Awami League has able to build a better diplomatic relation with other countries around the world. The acceptance of this government to the international arena is, unquestionably, better than any other time. But it’s a matter of great regret that the government has failed to execute death sentence of all the murders of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Pakistan’s democracy may be at danger following the last week’s removal of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Last Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed the PM on a failure to announce income in disclosure papers for 2013’s general election that leaves a huge political vacuum in the country. The judicial body based its decision on Article 62 of the Constitution and Section 99 of the Representation of the People Act — little-used legislation that requires truthfulness and honesty from elected officials. While Friday’s decision was hailed as a rare example of accountability in a graft-stricken nation, the fact ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Domestic workers provide a vital service in our society but little do we care about the rights of our domestic workers. They work day and night performing daily household chores. Domestic work is one of the world’s oldest occupations. Historically there are some socio-economic and cultural factors that encourage or compel children and women to search domestic jobs where there is no clear term of employment and registration. According to a report of International Labour Organization (ILO) all over the world there are 50 million domestic workers where most of them are children and women. In Bangladesh ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Around 51 per cent migrants experienced fraudulence and humiliation during the process of migration and at the destination countries. The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), an affiliated organization of Dhaka University, revealed its primary findings at a consultation on fraudulence in processing migration. RMMRU under the Prokas project of British Council is conducting research on the role of middlemen (locally called dalals) in the migration process. However, Bangladesh is one of the key labour-sending countries of the world. Each year a large number of people migrate overseas for both long and short-term employment from Bangladesh. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Women trafficking are at present a big global issue. This trade results in unimaginable mental and physical abuse, loss of human dignity, violation of countless human rights. It is a modern form of slavery, violates national and international laws against rape, torture, abduction and murder. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in trafficking of women in Bangladesh.  Very little work has been done to understand the local dynamics of the Problem meaningfully. Trafficking in women features prominently on the global agenda both from human rights perspective as well as broader safe migration viewpoint. According ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Lake Terrace, an upscale rooftop restaurant on the Lake Drive Road of capital’s Uttara, has put up a sign banning foreigners at the entrance of the five-storey building and near the elevator. “Due to Holey Artisan incident and after receiving a notice from our landlord; we are not allowing any foreigners in our restaurant. We are ashamed and pitiful from our soul for this message. Please accept our apologies and wait till farther notice,” it reads. The restaurant, established in 2012, overlooking the Uttara Lake, offering seafood and steak used to attract a trendy crowd including many ...

MNA Editorial Desk: With hard followings of the teaching of the Islam, Ramadan is completed and it is time to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with Muslims around the world. Millions of Bangladeshi Muslims begin to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr on Monday, the festive celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting and abstinence from worldly pleasures. Eid-ul-Fitr starts when the new moon is spotted in the sky, making the Eid holiday different around the world. Around the world, Muslims gather on the first day of Shawwal–the month following Ramadan on the Islamic calendar–for the Eid prayer to worship and ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The prices of all varieties of rice are increasing at a rate that even the sellers call ‘unusual’, without any good reason in the markets. The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh reportedly recorded a 47 per cent hike in the prices of coarse rice this month compared to the same period last year. Rising prices of food items is a key concern for the government as nearly 31.5 per cent of its around 160 million people still live below the national poverty line. As the domestic market has again become volatile in the wake of reports that ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir celebrated Pakistan’s victory over arch-rivals India in the Champions Trophy final with defiant pro-Pakistan chants and fireworks as shocked silence reverberated across Delhi following the historic upset. One spectator at the Oval in London was spotted wearing a T-shirt saying: “Winner takes Kashmir”. Joy was palpable in both old and uptown areas of Srinagar as youths came out of their homes to celebrate the victory of Pakistan. Kashmiris, who traditionally support Pakistan in cricket, especially against India, took to the streets after the win waving Pakistani flags and chanting “Jive Jive Pakistan ...