The message for Bangladesh's policy-makers is clear: ground this decision in data, not delusions of grandeur. Commission and publish an independent, peer-reviewed fleet plan.
We are glad that she breathed her last a free woman, surrounded by her loved ones, and that she lived to see the end of the despotism that blighted the last years of her life.
From a modest housewife to a widowed national leader who rose to the highest political office in the country, Begum Zia’s life was a testament to resilience and moral fortitude.
Concern about minority safety in Bangladesh is not illegitimate. But when that concern is amplified selectively, weaponized by domestic political actors, and accompanied by conspicuous silence on India’s own minority challenges, it acquires the flavour of moral exhibitionism.
Bangladesh has turned a page in its political history and a new phase of political governments is about to start. This may therefore be a good time to think about the future socio-economic tasks.
But to me, she remains the woman who could slip through a military blockade as easily as she could appreciate the simple sanctuary of a family meal. She taught us that true power doesn’t come from the title you hold, but from the responsibility you carry for those you love.
As a Bangladeshi Millennial, looking towards 2026 gives me the feeling I used to get before riding a roller coaster in my childhood. I fear it’s going to be a horrifying ride, but I can’t skip it now because I’m at the front of the queue and the next turn is mine.
Governments have changed. Elections have come and gone. Political narratives have shifted -- sometimes dramatically. Yet NCTB has remained reliably unable to perform its most basic function.
This piece was originally published on July 27, 2008, at rumiahmed.wordpress.com during a time when both sons of Begum Khaleda Zia were in detention in Dhaka and both were reportedly being tortured. Khaleda Zia was facing intense pressure to leave the country for Saudi Arabia.
Khaleda Zia’s moral authority came not just from her political positions, but also from her very persona. She was the epitome of dignity and grace. Authenticity is a virtue in politics, something she exhibited all her political life.
If NCP grows too strong, it risks becoming a genuine rival. My sense is that Jamaat has neither the intention to reform itself nor the willingness to allow such growth. Jamaat will remain the benchmark of right-wing politics in Bangladesh, while exploiting the NCP whenever a secular shield becomes necessary. The greatest casualty of this alliance will be July itself.
When the history of modern Bangladesh is eventually written with the clarity that distance allows, Khaleda Zia will not appear only as a former prime minister or as the chairperson of a major political party. She will appear as a woman who challenged inherited assumptions about power in a society unprepared for her presence.
She now walks the pathways of the afterlife, while we who remain must honor her legacy by continuing the struggle she led: the struggle for democracy, for justice, and for the betterment of the people of Bangladesh.
The crown cat becomes a single blood cell in the circulatory system of the algorithmic beast. Nusrat doesn’t remember the cat meme today. Not consciously.
Tarique Rahman’s return is undeniably historic. But history alone does not guarantee success. The comparison with 1972 is not about personalities -- it is about the structural burden placed on returning leaders in moments of national uncertainty.
What is being proposed is a National Education & Skills Master Plan -- not a document, but an operating system. Its core rule is brutally simple: no training exists unless it maps to a destination country, a verified certification standard, and a real wage ladder.
