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This book brings together a collection of essays about the untenable political status quo in Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina. Since democratization in the 1990s, Bangladeshi political life has been characterized by fierce battles over the role of religion in society, corruption, and the obstacles to constructing a society with freedom of expression and rule of law, independent from the influence of powerful neighboring countries. Academic freedom and other human rights issues have hindered the study of Bangladesh heretofore, and corruption, police abuses, and election rigging are common as well as widely documented. In this passionate, sometimes personal exploration of the issues of social justice, rule of law, and the democratic process in Bangladesh, the book offers a valuable case study of how an Asian developmental state is otherwise regressing backwards morally, socially, and politically. The Bangladeshi struggle for sovereignty, prosperity and democracy documented in this bookwill be of interest to political scientists, scholars of South Asia, and those of Islam.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Islam, Politics and Human Rights in Bangladesh: A Call for All Opposition Forces to Confront the Awami Dictatorship. - Chapter 2. Obscenity of the Awami Personality Cult. - Chapter 3. Bangladesh's War Dead: Controversy Over the Casualty Numbers. - Chapter 4. Clemency and Compassion, Or Cruel Otherization? -- Who Said What in Reaction to Captain Mazed's Execution? -Chapter 5. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury: Remembering a Fascinating Political Personality Five Years After His Execution. - Chapter 6. Comments on the Much Maligned Lutfozzaman Babar, etc.
About the author
Dr Q M Jalal Khan is author of
Bangladesh: Political and Literary Reflections on a Divided Country (New York: Peter Lang, 2018) and
Bangladesh Divided: Political and Literary Reflections on a Corrupt Police and Prison State (New York: Peter Lang, 2019). His work,
"Sheikh Hasina's Brutal BNP-Phobia and Her Scandalous 'Midnight' Power Grab Through Vampire Vote Dacoity and Villainous 'S/Election' Rigging with an All-Time High Record of Humongous White-Collar Corruption" has appeared in Balland (ed),
Bangladesh: A Suffering People Under State Terrorism (Peter Lang, 2020). His co-edited
Begum Khaleda Zia: Portrait of a People's Leader of Bangladesh (Washington: Academica Press, November 2020) and
India's Hegemonic Design in Bangladesh (New Jersey: Writers Republic, January 2021) are among his more recent volumes. Forthcoming is his edited book on Bangladesh's famed and fabulous former President Ziaur Rahman,
Zia, the Legend of Bangladesh. American-educated Dr Khan's numerous other publications in political commentary and literary criticism have appeared in various Western and Asian journals and online portals. After disengaging from many years of teaching abroad, he is currently on the adjunct faculty at an institution of higher learning in North America.
