Sabir Mustafa

Bangladesh appears to be getting pulled in opposite directions by two political currents.

July 16 Gopalganj violence and killings carry a deeply sinister significance.

The biggest challenge faced by the Bengali service came in 1971 when the Pakistan army launched a ferocious crackdown on Bengali nationalists campaigning for independence of what was then East Pakistan. The BBC became a lifeline service for millions of people inside East Pakistan and in refugee camps dotted along the border on the Indian side.

The early days of The Daily Star were also interesting times for Bangladesh. Back in 1991, the country was emerging from some sort of a istorical coma. Democracy was being re-established after the ill-fated experiment with one-party rule followed by two bouts of military dictatorship littered with coups and political murders. There was an air of freedom, a sense that liberalism had finally triumphed.