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In Episode 7 of Counterpoint Generations, Zafar Sobhan and Professor Rehman Sobhan discuss Manchester United’s recent win, revisit how their shared love for football began, and reflect on the current state of global and Bangladeshi football.
The notion that Jamaat-e-Islami is on the cusp of ruling Bangladesh tells us less about Bangladesh’s politics and more about the fantasies and anxieties of those observing it from insulated rooms.
Bangladesh’s working mothers deserve a serious conversation about policies that ease their load and secure their economic future. They deserve thoughtful engagement, not reflexive dismissal. For once, let us debate the policy instead of demonizing the policymaker.
The path forward begins by refusing to accept the silent exclusion as normal. It requires naming the disagreement for what it is: an attack on the pluralistic foundation of the state.
Tea workers exist and spend their entire lives on lands that they do not and will not own, unable to build assets or escape the plantation system.
Arithmetic still points to a BNP-led alliance winning, with a Jamaat-led alliance more likely to land as the principal opposition. The caveat is that Bangladesh has not had credible elections since 2008, so any confident prediction about voting behaviour is just that: An informed forecast, not a guarantee.
To understand whether an individual is honest, we need to know whether that person is committed to alternation of power, whether he understands the value of inclusivity and dissent, whether he knows that people with different ideas live within the same society, and whether he is willing to let them survive, grow, and challenge him.
Our cricketers will suffer the most over this difficult period which is why they must receive full sympathy and financial support. If this means that we forfeit participation in the 2026 World Cup (as has now transpired) so be it. There will be another opportunity in 2 years.
The question isn't whether Bangladesh made the tactically perfect decision. The question is whether middle powers everywhere -- in cricket, in trade, in international relations -- are ready to stop performing compliance and start building alternatives. That's what sovereignty looks like when the old order collapses and the new one hasn't been built yet.
The economy is busier, but not necessarily more capable. After presenting eight charts, they tell basically one story. On the economic front, Bangladesh’s achievements are real. But the transformation is still incomplete.
Televised debates won't solve every problem with Bangladesh's political discourse. They won't eliminate partisanship or guarantee honesty. But they offer something increasingly rare: a structured opportunity for truth-testing, where claims meet challenges and voters can judge for themselves.
What this latest interview has shown is that even 18 months after the uprising that unseated them from power, the party has not changed one iota. The party remains exactly as it was prior to August 5, 2024, save for the fact that it is no longer in power.
Where does the Awami League stand today, 18 months after the July Uprising, and is there any way back for the party post-February 12?
Why “Bangladesh First” Is Coherent Politics and “We Are the People” Is a Theological Trap for Jamaat. The first is a moral ordering principle which prioritizes responsibility. The second is a sovereignty claim and defines power.
